Eye of the Osprey
by MoiraCalhounx1377
Summary: This is my first story for Fan Fiction .net. It's set in future Konohagakure and it's about Neji, his daughter, and his AWOL wife. I'm not going to give too much away cuz I want you to read it! and review, please!
1. Prologue and Chapter 1: The Conference

_**Okay people--first fanfic up. This is a **_**Naruto **_**fanfic set in the future of Konohagakure. It's about Neji, his daughter Raechylle, and his wife Raevynn; I made up both the latter two. Please do not tell me who Neji ends up with in the real story because I am totally in love with him and I really don't want to know until I have to!! And no, I do not have to know now, if you're a cruel sadist and were about to tell me just because I told you not to tell me...Well, I wrote this over the summer of 2007, at age 12, so that's my excuse if it's really bad. I put up the prologue and chapter 1 at the same time because it was getting too complicated trying to make a document for the prologue and then the first chapter...those of you who are authors probably know what I mean. Well, enough of me going on and on. Please read and review!! thxxx...**_

_**--Moira Calhoun**_

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**PROLOGUE**

_**R**__aevynn is not coming back._

Neji Hyuga sat on the luxurious king bed in his bedroom, staring out of the floor-to-ceiling windows at a blood-red sunset in the west. The radio was playing softly, a woman's lilting voice sang a slow, melancholy tune that barely reflected the amount pain he was feeling inside. He sighed and lay back on the cool cotton sheets, closing his eyes and letting memories of the bed, and all the things that had happened in it, wash over him. Not bothering to close the curtains and letting the fading light dance over his body, he felt a strange sense of exhaustion fill him, and let himself succumb to the dark comfort of sleep.

He had never loved anyone as much as he had loved Raevynn Martin. The two of them had been married for two years when Raevynn had blessed Neji with a son.

As any new father would have been, Neji was superfluously proud of his little boy. He was exceptionally happy when he tested his three-year-old son for the Byakugan, the Hyuga Clan's kekkei genkai, or bloodline trait. To Neji's excitement, the little boy successfully activated the Byakugan.

You see, the Hyuga Clan had been nearly wiped out when Neji was fifteen years old by a disease unique to people with the Byakugan. Neji and his cousin Hinata were the only ones who had escaped the epidemic because they had been away on a mission.

Neji had taken it upon himself, as a fifteen-year-old chunin, to rebuild the entire Hyuga Clan. Since he hadn't been pleased with the set-up of the clan before, Neji rearranged the entire thing. It took him almost a year to write a "constitution" that thoroughly explained the procedures of ruling in the clan, even outlining what to do in the most improbable hypothetical situations.

Having graduated as Rookie of the Year at the Ninja Academy at age eleven, and mastering ninja techniques that he taught himself, Neji had always been considered a genius. Setting up the government, though time-consuming, hardly posed a challenge for him. The real problem was replenishing the clan of members.

When he married Raevynn, Neji gladly admitted her and her younger sister Deadra as the newest members of the clan. And when Hinata married Kiba Inuzuka, he was accepted as well, thus partially combining the Hyuga Clan with the Inuzuka Clan.

But there was another problem, this one relating to the passing down of the kekkei genkai. Neji and Hinata were the only ones who possessed the Byakugan, and Neji worried that it wouldn't be passed down the next generation. After doing a little research on genetics and heretics, all Neji could do was hope that at least his and Hinata's children would have the Byakugan. He declared, though, that those born into the clan without the kekkei genkai would take their mother's maiden name as a last name.

So, when Neji's three-year-old son proved that he had the Byakugan, Neji was absolutely elated. His theory was that there was a fifty-fifty chance that a child, born to one kekkei genkai-possessing parent and one non-kekkei genkai-possessing parent, would have the bloodline trait.

In his and Raevynn's mind, a fifty percent chance was a pretty good one. Neji was confident that, with a little luck, the rest of their children would have the Byakugan, as well. And Raevynn had always been an exceptionally lucky person.

But what goes up must come down, and Raevynn's luckiness definitely came down with the birth of her second child. Neji's daughter was born to a mother who had just gone through nine and a half hours of labor. The complications were uncountable, and Raevynn had to stay in the hospital for a month. The entire time, the doctors were unsure whether or not she would make it through each night.

Finally, though, Raevynn came home. But her luck was going to come crashing down again. Raevynn claimed to be a sorceress. Neji didn't believe her.

Thirteen nights after her return home, Raevynn and Neji got in a horrible argument that ended in a terrible happening, which Raevynn believed she had caused. Afraid of what she might do, decided to leave Konohagakure altogether.

Neji was left with the task of raising a three-year-old son and an infant daughter, all the while grieving for the loss of the only person whom he had ever truly loved. A loss he thought he had caused.

But all three of them made it through. Neji was again proud of his son when he went to the Ninja Academy and excelled in all of his classes. And he had high hopes for his little girl, who had turned out to be an incredible likeness of the woman Neji had loved and lost.

Just like he had with his son, Neji tested his daughter for the Byakugan when she was three years old. He thought that she would easily activate the kekkei genkai, just like her brother had. But no matter how much strain he put her under, how many times he pretended to put her in a life-threatening situation, the little girl couldn't awaken her Hyuga blood.

Finally, Neji was forced to admit it. His daughter, a mirror image of Raevynn, near perfect in every other way, didn't have the Byukugan. As he watched his daughter trudge out of the training room, knowing she had failed her father's test, the thoughts were jumbled in Neji's head.

_This girl is going to break my heart. She looks so much like her mother. But somehow I know she's not going to grow up to be the same. Or is she? Raevynn never had the Byakugan. Raevynn never changed her last name to "Hyuga." She tagged it on at the end of her name only when people kept getting confused about it. This girl's last name is going to be Martin too, and I was the one who decreed that. Fate has done it again. And what have I learned?_

Lying on his bed, Neji awakened, but without opening his eyes, he knew that it was morning. Where had the night gone? Sleep wasn't such a comfort, after all. He was still left with his jumbled, heartbroken thoughts, and a painful burst of intuition.

_Wherever she is, Raevynn is not coming back._

**ONE**

**The Conference**

"**R**aechylle, every time I look at you, I can't believe how much you look like your mother."

My aunt, just like everyone else, had to say the same thing.

I never knew my mother.

And I never knew how to respond when someone told me I was "Raevynn's spitting image." Was I supposed to say thank you? It wasn't exactly a compliment. I never said, "Do I?" because I had heard the comment so many times from so many people I couldn't doubt that it was true. Usually I just ended up shrugging and saying, "Hmm." Today was no different.

I shrugged perfunctorily at my aunt Deadra. "Hmm."

I never so much as saw a picture of my mother, Raevynn Martin Hyuga. Father locked away everything she had owned in his closet.

Aunt Deadra fanned her hand in front of her face. "It's quite warm today."

Like I didn't know that already. I was sitting by the door to the, perspiring in the July heat but too lazy to go turn down the thermostat.

"Wait, Raechylle, look at me again," my aunt said. I had cast my glance to my fingernails.

I looked up. "Why, look at that," Deadra declared. "Your eyelashes are somehow getting longer, just like Raevynn's did when she was a teenager."

"Okay…" I mumbled. Deadra tended to get a little…_weird_ sometimes. And she especially liked talking about her sister. My mother.

I, on the other hand, generally tried to avoid conversation about the woman who had given birth to me. It wasn't in me to pretend that I knew anything about her, because I didn't. All the other girls I knew had grown up with their mothers fawning at their every talent and teaching them integrity and caring. The only thing I could do was ruminate about who my mother might have been (I would never admit it to anyone, but making up fantasies about my mother was something I did quite often).

It was like I lived in a world completely detached from the other girls'. So I was always aloof about the topic of mothers.

I had grown up with my taciturn, condescending father, Neji Hyuga, lord of the Hyuga Clan. All Father had ever told me about my mother was that she had been the most wonderful woman he'd ever met, and that she had "gone" when I was less than a month old. "Gone" where, I didn't know, nor did Father provide any reason why. When I was younger, I'd press him for more information, but he'd always find a way to elude my questions. Being a silly little girl, I'd asked my brother, Hatori.

Right now, Hatori was sixteen, my elder by three years, and a special jonin. He was almost always away on missions, but when I was younger, we were as close as two peas in a pod, though we could never have been more different. Hatori had said Father told him not to tell me anything about my mother, but he didn't listen—he never did. That was one of the ways he and I differed. I was a perfectionist, always doing everything to the exact detail, while Hatori jumped into something, made quick work of it, and jumped back out.

Hatori had always been confident and exuberant, while I was pensive and aloof. Being a boy, he hadn't been hurt nearly as much as I had by the fact that we were motherless. But there was always the fact that Hatori had the Byakugan, the bloodline trait of the Hyuga Clan, and I had been born without it.

My father, for some reason, seemed to scorn me for not having the Byakugan, and made me feel like I didn't belong in my own family. I didn't see what was so amazing about it. It was just a sight-enhancing ninja technique. And since Hyuga blood could never be pure, some of my younger cousins didn't have it, either…and the clan didn't abhor them, nor did they make them feel unaccepted in their own family.

Anyways, according to my brother, I had been a tough birth and had left my mother in bad condition. She had stayed in the hospital for a month, and when she finally recovered, she "wasn't the same." That was what Hatori had said Father had said, and even as a child I had found the words quite elusive and that they connoted many things.

Thirteen nights after she came home, she and Father had gotten into a massive argument, and she had disappeared by the next morning. She left behind almost everything she owned, plus a note that, according to Hatori, simply said, _I'm sorry_.

I was pulled out of my reverie and back into the present when Deadra, gesturing to the thick wooden door, continued, "They're still not done in there?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so." I had been sitting outside the meeting room for a while now, and my legs were cramped from being in the same position for so long. It was unbelievable that a conflict as insignificant as how our gardens should be regulated could take so long to resolve (that was what the family heads were debating about in the Cavern). And where were my other aunts, anyway?

I was supposed to be babysitting the kids. I hated little kids—they were so messy and loud. But no matter how much I tried to reason with him, my father still assigned me this detestable job every time the family heads had a meeting. In this huge house, though, it was an impossible task to monitor five children, their ages ranging from two to six. I had been running around for an hour, trying to keep an eye on all of them. Finally I got the younger three asleep in the Marsh, and the other two were playing with building blocks (I have no idea why we have wooden squares in a box, but that's what I found) in the Prairie downstairs.

You're probably wondering what I'm talking about. How can there be a Cavern, Marsh, and Prairie in my house? Well, that's just what the rooms are called; they're painted accordingly inside. The furniture even reflects the habitat of the room. Father says Mother named the rooms like that when they first bought this house, and she had them painted to resemble scenes in nature. Now, I'm not a psychology expert, but, hungry for any bit of information about the woman, I had assumed that this meant that my mother was a nature-lover.

"How can they take so long?" Deadra glared at the door as if it might provide her with an answer.

Shrugging, I said, "I'm wondering the same thing."

"What a waste of a good Saturday," my aunt said huffily. She pushed a lock of sweaty blond hair from her forehead. "Tell your father that we can't always come here every time they want to hold a conference."

_Yeah, right,_ I thought. _Like I could tell my father what to do._

She stood there and I sat for about another minute.

"Gosh!" Deadra suddenly exclaimed. "I am not waiting another second for those stupid men to argue their little mouths off any more than they already have!" She pounded on the door with her right hand, putting her left on her hip.

My second uncle, Kiba, opened the door. His huge white dog was close at his heels, as usual. Why was that vicious thing in this house when Father wouldn't allow me to keep a hamster?

Then I thought of my mother again. I was always thinking about her in the back of my mind. How could I know who I was if I didn't know my mother?

Well, right now, something occurred to me that Hatori had said. When we were younger, Hatori had told me that, for the first three years of his life and while my mother was still living, the house had been filled with animals. According to my brother, there had been three cats, two dogs, a tank of fish, two pet rats, a lizard, a snake, and what Hatori described as a "fat rabbit." We'd also had a sheep, a donkey and two horses out in the barn that now only contained my horse, Stormheart, and his companion, the donkey. Father had given away all the pets soon after my mother left. But he had kept Stormheart, my mother's horse's foal.

Now, I wasn't a complete animal lover, but I would have liked a furry friend to accompany me through my lonely, mother-deprived childhood.

Once again, I was zapped out of my thoughts.

"What?" Kiba asked, standing in the doorway.

"What!?" Deadra shouted. "What do you mean, 'what?'! I'll tell you what! You people have been talking in there for three hours about _how our gardens should be regulated_!!!"

"Calm down," Kiba said noncommittally. "We'll be done in a bit."

"That's what you said last time!" Deadra called after him as he retreated back into the shadows of the Cavern. After the door was shut, she released a growl of frustration. Then she stormed away without any regard to me; I was still sitting by the door.

All was quiet once Deadra left, and the house was still in the July heat. About five minutes later, though, the volume of voices inside the Cavern began to rise, though the words were still unintelligible.

Suddenly I could hear my father's voice over all the rest. "I shall not agree to let you put others in the position that provided me so much misery for thirteen years! There won't be enough Hokages to provide them all with the salvation he provided me. In creating Branch families again, you're only condemning many of us and our posterity to lives of despair and acquiescence!"

I withheld a gasp of shock—what were they talking about? What position had put my father in "misery for thirteen years"? Thirteen years was a significant time in the Hyuga Clan. My mother had been thirteen when she first met Father; it had been thirteen years since my mother left us.

Trying to dissect the information, not to mention my father's vocabulary—"posterity" and "acquiescence"? —was not the simplest thing. I had been taught the history of the Hyuga Clan, but the history of a clan you were born into but unaccepted by is not what you most want to remember when you're thirteen years old.

I tried to go over what I knew. Before I was born, when my parents were around my age, the Hyuga Clan had been wiped out by a disease unique to people with the kekkei genkai of the Byakugan. The only survivors were my father and his cousin, my second aunt, Hinata. Father hadn't liked the way the clan had been set up before—something with a Main Branch and other flanking branches that had to serve the Main—so he rebuilt the clan. His new government had a Head Family that was a notch above the rest of the families, but the other families were in no way obliged to bend to the Head Family's demands. The secret of the Byakugan was passed down from Lord to his heir, and all the families had to protect each other.

Since he and Hinata were the only two people with Hyuga blood, when they had gotten married, their spouses were accepted into the clan, as well. My mother's sister, Deadra, and her family were also accepted. Therefore, Hyuga blood could no longer be pure, and some people born into the clan, such as myself, were birthed without the Byakugan. These people would take their mother's maiden name, like I had. Though we were supposed to be accepted as full members of the Hyuga Clan, it seemed as if that wasn't happening, at least, not for me.

There was nothing in what I knew that could tell me what Father's words meant. The only thing I was sure of was that he and the others definitely weren't conferring about how to regulate our gardens.

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_**So how was that?? I really really really appreciate reviews--take 2 minutes and write one plzz!! The whole story's done so you can expect Chapter 2 to be up in a jiffy...but don't expect there to be as much next time. Thanks for reading!!**_

_**--MC**_


	2. Chapter 2: Something Suspicious

_**Hello everyone!! I now present you with the second chapter of Eye of the Osprey...This chapter is a bit overblown but I hope you like it!! As always, I sincerely am grateful for reviews, so please send those in!! As many as you want!! thanxxx...**_

_**--MC**_

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**CHAPTER TWO **

**Something Suspicious**

**W**hen the meeting finally ended (another hour later) and everyone went back to their homes, my father retreated into his room. I knew not to bother him. Well, technically, I never bothered him. I couldn't say I hated my own father, but I hardly liked him. And he obviously didn't like me. My father was stern and domineering, and sometimes I wondered if it had been my mother leaving that had caused him to sink into such an attitude.

The only time we really saw or spoke to each other was at dinnertime. Otherwise, I had grown up entirely without parenting.

No, that wasn't completely true. If it were, I would be a wild child who "wouldn't no nothing" and be proud of it. I had one adult in my life that meant a lot to me. My Academy teacher, Tenten, was like a mother to me. She had taught me everything about being a kunoichi, plus plenty more. Tenten had been wonderful; she'd forged a personal connection with me without making it seem like I was the teacher's pet. Sometimes, when I got lonely at home, I'd go over to her condominium on the fifth floor of a store building, where I was always welcome.

Tenten told me that my father had made her promise not to tell me anything about my mother, and, unlike Hatori, she kept her word. But she did tell me about how much she had abhorred my mother, when she had still been in Konoha, for being my father's lover. Tenten admitted to me that she had once loved my father. For some reason, this made an unspoken bond between us, and I knew I could turn to her whenever I needed a helping hand. I still went to see her sometimes, but not as often, since I'd become a genin and then a chunin.

As all my relatives filed out of the house after the meeting, I burned with curiosity at what Father had been talking about in the meeting, but there was no way I was going to ask him. I considered going to Tenten, but I didn't think there was much they could tell me about my father's history.

Once the meeting ended, I had to clean out the Cavern, like I did after every conference, though there was never much to clean because no food, drink, or unnecessary objects were allowed. But there always seemed to be dust somewhere, and, fastidious as I was, I couldn't leave it be. And, of course, the kids hadn't put away the building blocks and left the sheets on their cots messy, so I had to take care of that, as well.

Cleaning was sometimes annoying, but my father had made me do it ever since I was about three years old. Actually, father left all the household duties up to me. I mean, didn't I have enough to do as a shinobi? Housekeeping was a job for maids—with all our money, why didn't Father just hire a caretaker? But I had grown to not despise housework as much as I might have because it was so mundane, though I was extremely meticulous with my cleaning; I had been an extreme perfectionist for as long as I could remember. But scrubbing a floor made me feel down-to-earth, and dusting a shelf numbed my mind in a perfunctory way.

Plus, housework was insanely routine—which I liked. Food was always made with the same recipe, the floors were to be washed and the carpets vacuumed.

And no matter how many times the washing machine churned it up, the laundry always came out wet and cold. Just like life.

There were a hundred reasons for me to spite my father. He made me do all the housework and never told me anything about the mother I was supposed to be so much like. He didn't like me for not having the Byakugan and made me feel like a stranger in my own clan. Mostly, though, it was because he had hardly been a _father_, and I had never even had a mother.

And there was another problem: the person my father had turned me into in his raising-yet-not-raising of me. No matter how much I tried not to, I couldn't stop being cynical, pessimistic, and derisive, though I knew it would be my downfall one day. I credited my father for making me so aloof, as well.

The summer day ended as it always did. I put something together in the Beach, our kitchen, for dinner. I had been cooking for my family ever since I was six. I was even a perfectionist then, so I could follow any recipe put in front of me to the exact milliliter of soy sauce. My opinion on cooking was somewhat undecided, because it was necessary and the results could be tasty, yet it was always so _messy_.

But I always managed to put something edible on the almost-venerable (dust-free) table in our opulent dining room. When Hatori was home, dinner was much more amiable; right now he was off on an A-ranked mission. With just my father and I, our meal was taken in a cold silence.

Today, Father was especially reserved. Even his chewing was absolutely soundless. Sometimes I wondered what it was like for other kids—kids with real families—at dinner. My best friend, Anora Uchiha, had younger twin brothers, and her mother was probably one of the most sociable people I had ever met. And her father, though quite reticent, was always willing to help Anora train and sharpen her skills as a ninja.

Just as I was taking the dishes to the sink, my father said something almost too quiet to hear. His voice was pensive and melancholy, very unlike the commanding, peremptory attitude he usually had when talking to me.

I had my back to him and dishes and eating utensils in my hands, but somehow the whisper of his words touched my ears like a cool spring wind, and I could have dropped the dishes right there. I had never heard my father speak with such…_emotion_ in his voice.

"What happens when you were told something once in your life, and you were so sure it was true…and then, life hands you people who tell you that what you had been believing for so long was a total fallacy; that it's completely untrue…what should you do…?"

I wasn't sure if he was truly asking me. I didn't respond.

After dinner I retreated to the Riverside, my room, like I always did, and entertained myself there until it was time for bed.

The next day, I woke up and went to the Academy, as I did every morning, to find out if there was a suitable mission for the next day or two. Today I rendezvoused with Anora, and we found a C-ranked mission where we had to bring a wagon of goods to the southern port. The mission would take five days, max, so I reported home, told my father (who didn't really care anyway), and packed some supplies for along the way. Then I brought out my handsome gray stallion, Stormheart, and rode him back to the Academy.

Anora and I harnessed Stormheart and her little speckled horse, Rose, to the wagon, and we hopped in. We could have taken the goods by foot; it might have been faster considering how quickly shinobi could move, but we preferred carting it. It took a day and a half to get to the port, and we spent the second half of the second day hanging out in the town there, after making sure our goods were in the right hands.

We stayed the night at a hotel before riding our horses back up to Konoha Village. We took two days getting back, taking our time and admiring the summer forest, though the heat and mosquitoes were extremely irritating. We arrived in Konoha in the evening; it was almost dark as we said goodbye and rode back to our houses.

When I got home, I groomed Stormheart and put him in his stall with a full trough of hay and a molasses bran mash before letting myself in the house through the back door, which led into the Forest, the dining room. Strangely, everything was dark and there were no signs of life. Usually, at this time of day, my father would be lounging in the Prairie, training in the Jungle, or up in his room, the Mountain, but no matter where he was, there would be some kind of light on in the house.

Slightly afraid of what I was going to find, I went to the kitchen in the Beach, opened the refrigerator, and was surprised to find no stashed leftovers from tonight's meal. Nor could I find anything from last night, or the one before that, for a matter of fact. The most recent dinner remains were at least three days old and already starting to spoil. This was definitely strange; had my father been away, too? _But he would have left a note_, I thought. Even if my father didn't really love me, he always made sure I knew where he was in case of danger. Like me, he was quite the perfectionist.

Where was my father?

I closed the fridge, afraid to touch anything else, including the light switch. "Hello?" I called out into the darkness. No response, just my own voice stabbing the silence. I couldn't have been more frightened had my breath been steaming in front of me because of coldness. Thankfully, though, the temperature seemed regulated.

I warily crept into the Prairie, and noticed, to my annoyance, that there was a thin layer of dust on the coffee table. But everything else was as normal as it ever could be. The same went for the Jungle (training room), and for the Sea (bathroom). I even checked the closet in the Forest, but there was nothing suspicious or even the slightest bit different in there.

Mounting the stairs, I flinched at every creak. Upstairs was as dark as downstairs. I first went to the Riverside, my bedroom, and sighed with relief to find everything exactly how I left it. I checked the Ocean (upstairs bathroom) and the Marsh (Hatori's bedroom), but everything was serene and ordinary.

The Cavern had always been kind of foreboding and creepy, but it was even more so today as I squeaked open the door. There were no windows in this room, so I couldn't see by moonlight as I had while I was checking the other rooms. Cautiously, as if it were wired to a trap, I flipped on the light switch, but all I could see in the poor illumination that the one light on the ceiling provided was the mahogany conference table and chairs and the file cabinets in the back. With a sigh of relief, I turned off the light and left the Cavern.

The only room left was my father's bedroom, the Mountain. The only time I had been in here was when I was four or five, and Hatori had dared me to open the closet with my mother's things in it. Of course, I had found it locked, and had been heavily chastised by my furious father. Since then, Hatori and I had felt as if the Mountain was forbidden, but I declared to myself that tonight was an exception.

The chrome doorknob was cold and smooth under my palm as I slowly creaked open the door. My father had a magnificent floor-to-ceiling window covering his back wall, and moonlight spilled onto the floor, giving the hardwood a luminescent sheen. Everything was intact and ordinary…except for the bed. There was no one in it, but the sheets were tousled and messy.

I immediately made a mental note of this as something suspicious.

One of the few similarities between my father and myself were that we both would not tolerate anything other than immaculate order. We were both perfectionists—that was the one thing I had noticed through all my years. I couldn't stand to see a messy bed, and I didn't think he could either. It might even have been Father who taught me how to scrupulously make my bed every morning. And even though I didn't know all of his habits, if he was anything, my father was not a hypocrite.

To anyone else, the sheets might have been overlooked as a one-time slip-up…but my father did _not _slip up—ever. Suspicion rose in me, and my breath came in short gasps.

That was when the doorbell rang.

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_**There--are you just dying to read more?? Well, sorry, no Chapter 3 up yet...but come back soon and maybe it'll be up!! thx again...**_

_**--MC**_


	3. Chapter 3: The Locked Closet

_**I haven't been getting any reviews!!! Seriously people, I want to hear from you. Even if you hate my story, I want you to tell me!! PLEASE!!! I just got an amazing idea that I'll have to change the ending for, but that doesn't affect anything except the last 2 chapters, so you can probably still expect more chapters to be up soon. And if you've been liking my story so far simply for the **_**Naruto**_**-ness, that might have to change soon because I bring in some witchy themes this chapter. Well, there was that thing about Raevynn being a sorceress in the prologue…um whatever. READ AND REVIEW!!! Thxx**_

_**--MC**_

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**THREE**

**The Locked Closet**

**M**y pounding heart was so loud in my ears that I was sure whoever it was could hear it. _Thup-thump. Thup-thump._ I forced myself to slow my breathing, calm down, and think. Who would be ringing the doorbell this late at night?

I supposed I would have to face my fears and open the door, so I crept downstairs quietly and, before I could hesitate, threw open the front door. And whom did I find other than—

Tenten!

"Oh!" I shouted. "You scared my half out of my wits."

"Raechylle! You're back!" Tenten exclaimed. Then she blurted, "Your father's been gone for three days he just suddenly went missing and no one could find out where he went because the door was locked so I decided to wait till you got home I've been coming to ring the doorbell every evening and finally you're back!"

"Um," I mumbled. Tenten embraced me in a massive hug.

When she finally released me, she said more calmly, "I'm sorry. I've just been so nervous, because I wanted to talk to Neji one day and no one was home. The Hokage said you had gone on a mission, but Neji was supposed to be home. But he wasn't…Neji told me a long time ago that if anything ever were to happen to him…" she paused, "…I should take care of you. Now, I don't think he's gone, like, really _gone_, but…"

"I understand," I said softly. I would be glad to go live with Tenten, but I was definitely worried about what happened to my father. He was my legal guardian, and I couldn't say I didn't care about him. If he had died—which was unlikely with his personality, not to mention shinobi skill—Hatori would have to be the lord of the clan…and everything would be crazy and chaotic.

And that would be just unacceptable. I guess my meticulousness is playing in again, because I just _absolutely_ _hate_ chaos and confusion.

Tenten spoke again, but now she was solemn. "He also told me, if something befell him, to give you this."

She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a slender silver key. It wasn't fancy or ornate in any way; a key you might see anywhere. My curiosity burned, and finally Tenten offered an explanation. "It's to the closet in Neji's room."

"Oh…"I breathed. Was she serious? My father had left her a key…to my mother's secret closet…it was too confusing to ponder at the moment.

"Would you like me to come with you?" Tenten asked.

I nodded, stepping back to let her in the house. I locked the door behind us and told her about the only clue I found, the tousled sheets, as we walked up the stairs. We headed straight for my father's room, where Tenten examined everything in the room while I went to unlock the closet.

The slender key fit in the keyhole like magic, and with one twist, I heard the lock click open. Anticipation filled me from head to toe as I reached for the handle of the door.

"Oh, there's another thing I gotta tell you," Tenten said from where she was standing by the window. "Your clan…well, I'm not sure if I should be telling you this, but I think you should know…so, the Hyuga Clan is kind of being…harassed by this group…it's called the Black Dragons…and they're kekkei genkai collectors…if that makes sense…well, right now they're after the Byakugan…the family heads haven't yet decided how to deal with them, and the Black Dragons threatened to make a move if they didn't soon…that was what the meeting the day before you left was about. Neji was trying to decide how to avoid trouble, and someone suggested reverting to Branches, and he…well, let's just say he got extremely angry. I think it's the Black Dragons that kidnapped him—he was taken, you know. The window's unlocked, but closed—that's something your father would never overlook."

Suddenly it made sense. The Cadet Branch—that was what Father had been in while he was in the old Hyuga Clan, it had had some sort of obligation to the Main Branch, and it was that restraint on his life that he had hated. I nodded slowly to Tenten.

Tenten suddenly seemed to realize that I was at the door of the closet. "Sorry to stall you," she said. "Go ahead and open it."

My hand rested on the furnished doorknob for a moment before I got the nerve to twist it. The door opened silently, and the dark room behind it somehow seemed welcoming. I found the light switch and flipped it on.

It was a walk-in closet, about a meter by two meters, and had a thickly carpeted floor. The first things I saw were clothes. Both walls to my sides were lined with them—pants, skirts, shirts, sweaters, dresses, all hung neatly with pairs of shoes lined up underneath. I reached out in a daze and felt the fabric of the closest piece of clothing. It was a medic's jacket—had my mother been a medic? The white cloth felt soft under my fingertips, and a vibe of goodness radiated off of it.

I took a deep breath, inhaling the motherly scent. From all around the room came the smells of nature—leaves, rain, flowers, and behind it, a whiff of…sky. I knew the sky didn't have a scent, but that was the only way to describe that underlying aroma.

I stepped inside carefully, afraid to ruin the atmosphere with my presence. The back wall was spanned with four shelves, and upon them were a plethora of different items.

The top shelf was filled with medical equipment—first aid kits, briefcases with red crosses on them, and some random bare supplies. I wondered again if my mother had been a medic…maybe a doctor?

My eyes moved lethargically down, taking in the things on the second shelf. Most of them were stuffed animals and figurines. My mother had definitely been an animal person, and she sure had a lot of toy animals…

The third shelf down had stacks and stacks of books on them, and, glancing at the titles, I found them both fiction and nonfiction. To the side was a stack of CD's, varying in style from country to rock to pop. Maybe I would listen to them later, but now, my eyes were abruptly attracted to the bottommost shelf.

On it were at least thirty notebooks, piled neatly. The notebooks were all small-sized, and looked extremely intriguing. The only other thing on the shelf was a massive, whitewood jewelry box.

I picked up the topmost notebook from one of three stacks. Slowly, I lifted the cover, cringing at the crinkling sound it made and fearing that I would damage the fragile-seeming book. On the first page, there had been pasted a small photograph of two people. The first was my father, though obviously much younger. It was a strange sight to see him smiling, his eyes shining, and he had his arm draped around a girl…me…?

…No. It was my mother.

All the things people had said suddenly rolled through my brain, inundating me with a wave of realization. …_You look just like Raevynn…Raevynn's spitting image…can't believe how much you look like your mother…_I never thought two different people could look so alike. Looking at my mother was like looking at my own reflection. The same slim, expression-filled eyebrows, bright eyes, and partial-Roman nose that I saw every time I glanced in a mirror were right there, on my mother's face, in the photograph.

My mother was laughing, her long black hair lifted in the wind. Though the picture was a bit faded, I could tell that her hair was the exact shade of mine.

The only difference I could make out was the color of our eyes. I had gray eyes, like most people in the Hyuga Clan (though I did have visible pupils!), while my mother's were a gentle hazel hue.

Everyone had said I looked like my mother. They had said it over and over again until it became repetitive, annoying, and obnoxious. Now, I realized that, had I been in their place, I'd have done the same thing.

I flipped the page in the notebook and came upon a handwritten page with a date at the top. Apparently it was a journal entry. Paging through the book, I found that every page was filled with entries of some sort or other.

Putting back the first notebook, I opened another one. It was a journal, as well. If all the others were the same, then my mother certainly had kept a good record of her life…a bubble of happiness welled up in me. Undoubtedly these books would provide me with a good look at who my mother was and how she had lived her life. Finally, I would know something about my mother! I grinned to myself.

After setting the book back on its stack, I lifted the jewelry box off of the shelf and placed it on the ground before me. It looked so elegant, with intricate carvings in the wood and gold and silver plating around the edges. I was glad to find that the entire surface was dust-free…but my face fell when I saw that it was held shut with a heavy silver lock.

Then I remembered the door key, which was still balled inside my hand. Would it fit the jewelry box, too? I slipped the key into the lock—and what do you know, it fit like a charm. I opened the box, and my eyes immediately rested upon an abundance of scintillating gems. Lifting the top somehow triggered the bottom three shelves to fold out so they looked like stairs on a staircase, the bottom one extending further than the rest, the second-to-bottom one extending out a little less, and so forth. Necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings of all sorts revealed themselves to my hungry eyes.

On the top shelf, though, rested a folded, yellowed piece of paper. Intuitively, I knew it was a note from my mother, and my emotions immediately sobered.

Delicately lifting it from its resting place, I unfolded the sheet with trembling fingers. The crinkle of the old paper was the only sound other than my pounding heart, and my eyes took a moment to register the first words. In small, loopy writing, the letter read,

_Dearest Raechylle,_

_I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart that I cannot be with you while you read this. I don't know how old you are, what you look like, who you __really__ are; I just told your father to give you the key to my jewelry box whenever he was ready. Who knows, you may never read this at all._

_Please take some time out of your days to read my Books of Shadows. To you, it might be simpler to say "journals," but I was a witch, you see. Before you jump to any conclusions, let me have you know that it was a different kind of witch from the green-faced, wart-nosed kind. I'm a witch of good, under the Wicca Craeft. _

_I don't know how much about me your father has told you. It may be a little, may be a lot. I left without warning, and even reading my Books of Shadows may not tell you why. Don't feel guilty when I say it was because of you. You, Hatori, your father, and basically everyone I knew._

_You were a tough baby to bring into the world. Only when you bear your own children can you understand the discomfort I experienced carrying and giving birth to you. I was a medic, knowledgeable in the ways of the human body and reproduction, but nothing could have prepared me for the night I went into labor before I gave birth to you._

_The last thing I want to do right now is bore you with bloody-gory details. You entered this world at exactly seven-thirteen in the morning on July the thirteenth of nineteen sixteen. One look at you and I knew you were the greatest thing I would ever make. I don't know if you still have the star-with-a-circle around it birthmark on your left arm, but you had it when you were just born, and I knew you had greatness awaiting you._

_Soon after birthing you, I fell mortally ill, ill enough to need to stay in the hospital for an entire miserable month. While I was in the delirium my sickness brought upon me, I started to see the spirits. Spirits of animals, dancing in front of my closed eyes. At first I thought it was just because I was going to die, for it couldn't be just my delirium; they were too real. But I didn't die, and finally I came home to take care of you and Hatori and your father._

_But the spirits kept coming. Now I saw them even when my eyes were wide open; they were always animals. Somehow I could talk with them, and they always told the truth. They predicted accidents about to happen, told me what meals my family wanted to eat that day, and reminded me to feed the pets. Also, I could tell them to contact someone's conscience to remind them of something, could ask favors of them, and they always carried them out. Maybe I should have been happy, but I became deathly afraid of my new "power."_

_I did a little reading about spirits, and feared that I was becoming a sorceress. All my readings told that sorcerers and sorceresses tended to get carried away with their powers and go bad. Bad, as in, evil, if you believe in such a thing.. So I told your father, and he didn't believe me. After all we had gone through together, he told me it was probably just my mind playing tricks on me. So we got in a terrible quarrel. My guardian-angel spirits stood by my side the whole time—the osprey, the hare, and the dolphin. _

_And when I got really angry, I bade my osprey attack your father._

_And she did. The bird slashed your father's shoulder with her talons, digging deep into the muscle. He didn't know how it happened; he couldn't see the osprey, but the wound was as real as it could be._

_And then I decided I had to leave._

_So here I am. I'm about to pack a few things to take away with me. The only blatant thing I've left behind is a note that reads, "I'm sorry." Because I am. I truly, truly am._

_I left less conspicuous directions for your father on how to run the house, how to take care of you children, and about the key you used to unlock this box. Hopefully he received all of them, including the one where I begged his forgiveness, which I hid with our wedding certificate, behind it, in the frame. If he hasn't found that one yet, please tell him where it is._

_I don't know what your father told you about me. I hope you understand that I am greatly sorry for leaving you like I did. But I believe it's for the best; the spirits I can now command pose too much of a threat to you…and I could go bad. _

_I'm planning on heading south; my spirits told me about a completely different civilization down there. Maybe I could go and live out the rest of my days there. I've done what I had to in life; namely, I had you. I've loved, I've lived, I've committed myself to helping others, and I need no more from this thing called life. If ever you find the need to seek me out—and it must be an extremely dire situation for you to do so, since both you and I don't know what I'm going to be when you do—just keep traveling south, through the forest and then the desert, and hope you come upon the civilization._

_It isn't easy to grow up without a mother. But people have done it. Some of the greatest people you know have done it. The Hokage, for instance. The Kazekage, too, and Sasuke Uchiha, if you know him—and look at all they've accomplished._

_Your aunt Deadra and I grew up without a mother, too._

_I know it's hard. I know it hurts. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. So let the tears fall, but don't forget to rise above them in the end. Find your voice and become the best person you could possibly ever be. Remember to always look for the fine line between right and wrong. _

_With the most sincerity on the face of this earth, I beg your forgiveness and send to you my deepest apologies. I've been a coward, a weakling, a bad person, but I cannot see any other way. Believe me, you're better off without me._

_The little things are starting to get to me—that I won't be with you when you say your first words, take your first steps, start at the Ninja Academy, become a genin, a chunin, a jonin, grow up, get married, and make your own way in life. I'm sorry I won't be there for my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren, if I could live that long._

_Just know that I'm sorry. And that I love you, I love you, and _I love you__

_Please remember this: a life unlived is like a book without words._

_With the greatest sincerity,_

_The truest apologies,_

_And the most heartfelt, motherly love,_

_Raevynn Moira Martin Hyuga_

_P.S. Tell Hatori I'm sorry and give him my love._

_P.P.S. Tell your father I love him._

The tears were rolling down my face in torrents, dropping onto the paper and blurring my vision. I folded up the paper again, afraid to ruin it with my crying, and put it back in its place in the jewelry box. Just reading her words filled the mother-shaped hole in my heart enough so that it didn't hurt so much anymore. My tears were from simple emotion welling up inside of me.

That was when I noticed the silver bracelet, directly under it. It was a charm bracelet; a delicate silver chain with silver ornaments hanging off of it. Gently lifting it, I examined the first charm I saw.

It was a sun, all the rays intricately molded and infinitely beautiful. The next charm was a maple leaf, all the visible veins evidence of the maker's expertise. A silver horseshoe embedded with diamonds, and then a four-leaf clover, followed by a tiny raptor-type bird's head, every line in each feather perfectly carved. Then there was an X with wavy lines on either side; something I didn't recognize. A smooth crescent moon came after the X, and then a hare, its circular eyes bright. There was a feather, so small, yet so realistic, and then a dolphin that seemed to be jumping out of water. Two miniscule silver wedding bells jingled as I fingered their fragile-seeming surfaces, and on the back of one of them, carved in tiny, almost invisible writing, were the words _Raevynn and Neji, June 22, 1911_. The penultimate charm was a simple, equal-armed cross, kind of like the universal medical symbol; as I had discovered, my mother had been a medic.

The final charm brought a fresh wave of tears to my already-wet eyes. It was identical to my birthmark, which I did still have. A five-point star, just the lines, enclosed in a circle.

I remembered hearing what it was called somewhere; someone had commented on my birthmark being one. Searching the darkest recesses of my mind, I still couldn't find the word. Then I glanced at my left forearm. I realized that the charm would fit directly onto my birthmark, and I pressed the cool silver to my skin. The charm could have branded the symbol there; it fit that perfectly.

Suddenly I remembered.

The pentacle.

_**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**_

_**Was that sappy, illogical, non**_**-Naruto­**_**-related…or all of them?? Hahaha. LOL. Seriously, though, people, I'm begging you to review. Even if you tell me it's horrible, you hated it, etc. PLEASE SEND ME REVIEWS!!!! Have a nice day…**_

_**--MC**_


	4. Chapter 4: A Reckless Mission

_**Why do I get the feeling that my constant requests for you people to review are doing exactly the opposite—they're making you **_**not**_** review??? And according to my hit counter, no one's even read chapter 3 yet. But I really don't care; my whole story's done so I'm just going to keep posting chapters. Be thankful, those of you who are actually enjoying Eye of the Osprey. **_

_**--MC**_

**FOUR**

**A Reckless Mission**

**T**enten and I came to a decision later that evening. We decided that we had to get my father back, and we'd bring the request to the Academy so it could become a mission, which we could take.

That night Tenten stayed at the house, sleeping downstairs in the Prairie. In the morning, I decided I'd read through my mother's journals while Tenten went to the Academy to file our request.

I was alone in the house all morning, and I got a lot of reading done. I found that my mother had been a medic and had even earned a doctor degree, and learned so many things about her that I would never have known otherwise. By mid-afternoon, I had skimmed through all of my mother's journals, but Tenten still wasn't back yet.

Wondering what was taking her so long, I sat around for a little, not knowing what to do. I sunk into my thoughts about my mother, who she had been, and where she was now. Even though I hadn't consciously known it, all along, I knew that I would have to find my mother someday, and now, that desire overcame me. I decided that I would ask Tenten if we could somehow try to locate her.

It seemed kind of haphazard when I really thought about it, not to mention reckless, but I wasn't sure how else I could satisfy myself; I was sure just getting my father back wouldn't do the trick. I had come upon many revelations in my mother's journals, but I wouldn't be whole until I met the real _her_.

Finally, just before six in the evening, Tenten knocked on the door. She whipped up some dinner for us, and informed me on all the happenings of her day as we ate. The Hokage had agreed to let us try to find my father, but we had to recruit at least two other chunin or jonin for the mission, which was going to be rated B. When Tenten asked about Raevynn (just out of curiosity), the Hokage said that we could even try to find her if we wanted to. Silently I thanked the gods for letting us have such an understanding leader.

So, Tenten had spent the entire day trying to recruit two other people to join us. Finally Rock Lee and Kiba Inuzuka agreed to take on the mission. We would be leaving tomorrow morning, heading out south for the civilization Raevynn had mentioned. Tenten and Lee's plan was that first, we would seek out Raevynn, and then bring her back north to help us find the Black Dragons and find Father.

It sounded simple and logical enough—both of my desires satisfied.

But I was pretty sure this was one of those things that were easier said than done.

The next morning Tenten and I met Rock Lee, Kiba and Akamaru, Kiba's ninja dog, at the gates of the village. All four of us were shouldering knapsacks packed with everything we might need for the trip.

As we exited the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Rock Lee showed us the map on which he had plotted our course. We would jump from tree to tree for as long as we could; the forest would only take a few days to traverse. The desert would pose more of a challenge, but we would prepare for the trip through it while in the forest and try to take the shortest route possible.

No one had ever explored what was in the forest past the desert, so we expected the civilization that Raevynn had sought refuge with to be there, but nothing was certain. So we all had to be on watch at all times. I was starting to get nervous about this—the Hokage was not the most think-things-through person…was it wise to jump into something like we were?

I knew that we needed to find my father; without him, the Hyuga Clan would be thrown into turmoil. And since I was part of the clan, I was most absolutely certain that I could not let that happen. Father was the mortar that kept the clan's bricks together. I guess you never knew how much he was needed until he was gone.

And my mother…someday, I knew, I would have to seek her out. Even now, as we each leapt into a tree, starting our journey, I was burning with curiosity as to what had happened to her. She had explained to me, in the letter, all the reasons for which she had left, and I had learned a lot about her from the journals, but I wondered where she was now, and why she hadn't come back to Konohagakure. Had she really gone "bad" as she feared she would? Somehow, though, my intuition told me that she was just fine, out there somewhere, waiting for me to seek her out. It was like the beginning of a story that you can't put down—I just had to find out what happened.

So, as we began the long journey south, I made a decision to try my best on this mission, but not to set my sights too high. That way, if I never found my mother, my spirits wouldn't come crashing down.

I had traversed the forest so many times that it wasn't so spectacular to go through it again. The first day we mainly just jumped through the trees in silence, trying to cover as much ground as possible. But we didn't have a deadline for this mission, nor did we even have a set number of days to expect to find the civilization within.

By that evening, I was more pessimistic than hopeful about this job. In my mind, a mission like this would never get anywhere. Some people would love to jump into something like this, but I much preferred if everything was planned out, even if exact, precise execution was required.

When we stopped for the night, I checked my pedometer—one hundred forty-four kilometers. We dined on canned food and bottled water—not the most luxury meal—and slept in sleeping bags—not the softest mattresses.

Two more days of the same passed before we exited the Land of Fire. It was still forestland, but we were soon due to reach the desert. I had never been this far from the Village Hidden in the Leaves before, and the mission actually provided a bit of interest now.

It was a little before noon of the third day when things began to noticeably change. The types of trees were starting to become unfamiliar, and many of them were shorter than others. That made it harder to leap from branch to branch, but we still managed.

By the fourth day, the trees were getting sparse, and there were often times when we had to run on the ground. Lee, Kiba, Tenten, and even Akamaru were all experts at darting along at speeds of up to sixty kilometers per hour, but I had never learned how to do it, and they had to spend the better part of the day teaching me. I felt kind of guilty when we only made eighty kilometers the day, but then I thought to myself, _Hey, we have until forever if that's how long it takes. I'm sure Father will be able to take care of himself._ Once again I was hit with the pointlessness of it all, but I did want to find my mother, and I was _not _a quitter.

We made sure we had enough food for a month in our backpacks before we started into the desert. It was exhausting to run at such high speeds in the heat of the desert, and every night I got sand in my hair from sleeping on the desert ground. The sand also got all over our bags and I didn't know how long it would take to wash the gritty feeling out from my mouth. The sandy wasteland seemed completely interminable, and it was five days before we saw the edge of it.

By the end of the ninth day since we had left Konoha, we reached the edge of the desert. I was filthy, and we were heading into completely unfamiliar territory. Now things were startlingly different—everything was huge.

The trees we were now running under were definitely the tallest I had ever seen. Their leafless trunks extended at least a hundred twenty meters into the sky before the leaves started to appear. From there, gargantuan fingers of emerald green foliage stretched up, tickling the sky. In all, the trees had to be at least a two hundred meters tall. They were magnificent, though, and I wished I could climb all the way to the top and look down over the world from the highest branch.

The bushes and grasses were super-sized, as well. Each of the bushes was as large as a house, and the grass was at least a meter tall; some of them probably reached two meters. The mammoth size of our surroundings didn't daunt me, though, and all I could do was marvel at the hugeness of everything. I wasn't sure about the others, but the immensity didn't scare me—it completely amazed me.

We didn't get a chance to stop until noon, though, when we came upon a river of the same proportions as the behemoths of trees. Well, if you take the trees as scale size, the river was more of a stream, but to the four of us, it was about two hundred meters wide. I wondered if there was any type of animal living in this forest, but I wasn't sure I wanted to meet a creature on this scale.

We decided to eat lunch before crossing the river, which, fortunately, didn't have a very strong current. It would be easy to walk across the water (walking on water was a basic ninja technique).

Though we still had three weeks worth of food, Lee and Kiba scavenged for any familiar plants. They found some chervil and wild carrots, but both were massive, like everything else in the forest, and Tenten and I had to help cut down the plants and chop them up into manageable pieces.

After lunch, we took turns cleaning off in the river's cool water. Luckily, we saw no gigantic fish, and I was beginning to enjoy myself in this humongous forest. I could tell, though, that Tenten was wary about our surroundings, though she said nothing about it.

Akamaru, who had been running alongside us this entire time, was also on guard. His hair stood up in a ridge along his spine and he growled at the wind when it blew through the bushes. Kiba seemed to pick up on his anxiousness, and was just as tense throughout the afternoon. Lee was a little less wrung-out than Kiba, Tenten, and Akamaru, but I could tell he was also watching out for danger.

Somehow I didn't feel that the forest was threatening or menacing in any way. In fact, I was kind of at home in it. I loved the power that emanated from all the huge greenery. In some way, I could identify with it; I guess it was because I had always wanted to feel bigger and more important. I suppose I should have felt dwarfed by this super-sized forest, but somehow being in the enormous forest made me feel a little larger.

When we had dried off from our swim, I voiced my idea about climbing to the top of a tree. To my surprise, all three adults thought it was absurd, dangerous, and completely insane. I didn't argue, but I was deeply shocked that the idea hadn't occurred to any of them and they were so against it.

Crossing the river/stream was a simple task, and we decided to camp for the night on the other side. We had a dinner of the food we had stored for the trip across the desert, which were mostly vegetables.

It took a long time for Tenten, Lee, and Kiba to fall asleep that night; they were too wary of every shadow and whisper of wind. I knew we should post a guard because we were in foreign territory, but none of them seemed to remember. I didn't remind them. There was something I wanted to do, and a guard would just interfere.

Finally, when I was sure all three of them and the dog were sound asleep, I crept out of my sleeping bag as quietly as a could, not just so that I wouldn't wake them. For some reason, it seemed wrong to disturb the impeccable peace of the forest.

The dirt of the riverside muffled my footfalls and the full moon lit my way with a ghostly, resplendent light. I slowly snuck to the tallest tree within sight of the others' sleeping bags and glanced at the gnarled bark of the trunk. The patterns were like none of any tree I had ever seen before. Its ridges and ruts were so convoluted that when I traced them with my finger, all I ended up with was one thought—this was nature's own Möbius Strip.

I backed up a little and ran at the tree, focusing my chakra into the soles of my feet. Running up the trunk was pretty simple—all I had to do was use chakra as a kind of adhesive, attaching me to the trunk. Since the tree was a living thing, I infused my chakra with its, and I could feel its power surging through me.

Wind whipping my hair, I ascended higher and higher, leaving the ground further behind with each meter. I had no fear of falling; somehow I felt as if I could trust the tree with my life. When I reached the part where the trunk forked out, I chose the sturdiest of the three branches. From there, it wasn't long before the branches were too thin to run on.

Around the hundred-fifty-meter-mark, I slowed my run to a stop and began climbing, not daring to look down. This was definitely more exerting than running up the trunk, and I progressed much more slowly. But the sliver of moonlight that I could see through the tops of the branches was so alluring. I kept going, steadily getting closer to the top.

Fortunately, even the topmost branches were thick enough to support my weight, though they swayed in the wind. It was pretty cold up here, but that only added to the thrill.

Finally, I reached the top of the branch I was climbing and settled comfortably in a sitting position on the branch. Deeply inhaling the crisp night air, I settled back against the main branch and relaxed, with a caressing zephyr lifting my hair. Then I looked up at the dark night sky, a black blanket spattered with winking stars. The moonlight bathed everything in an eerie white glow, giving the landscape a fantastical look. I let myself glance down.

At once I was clutched by vertigo—I was higher off the ground than I had ever been in my life. It seemed like there was at least a kilometer between my dangling feet and the forest floor, though I knew it was only about two hundred meters. For a moment, I was deathly frightened. But the feeling slowly faded as I looked out over the landscape. In one direction, I could see the desert spreading its sandiness over the horizon. The rolling sand dunes gave it an undulating appearance, and I could see a sandstorm far in the distance. Behind me, the gigantic-sized forest went on as far as the eye could see. The green of its massive trees was made a deep emerald color by the moonlight, and the ambience of the pristine, dazzling scene was like a layer of fairy dust and benediction.

It was breathtaking. I wished I could stay up here forever, but I knew that I'd have to get a good night's sleep if I wanted to act normal and keep this magnificent excursion a secret from the adults. Briefly I wished for a camera to capture the majesty of the scenery, but I knew I wasn't going to forget the sight any time soon.

I sat on my branch for a few more minutes, relishing the sweet night air filling my lungs and filling me with complete, heartfelt hope. Somehow I knew that my mother would have loved to be up here with me, and as the moon stared me in the eye, I finally recognized my desire to find her. Suddenly I felt so strongly about finding my mother that it was almost tangible.

I smiled at the winking stars and took a deep breath, inhaling the pureness one last time. Then I reluctantly began my long climb down.

_**I truly appreciate it if you're keeping up with my story and enjoying it, even if you're not sending me any reviews. Thanxxx.**_

_**--MC**_


	5. Chapter 5: The Bear

_**Still posting here…I just checked my stats today and I found it quite odd that people have looked at Chapter 4 when Chapter 3 still has zero hits. Which means someone is attempting to read the story out of order!! Lol. Anyways, things are going to get a little more exciting here since when I was writing this, my brother insisted I put some action in. And I'm totally giving up on the asking for reviews thing now. **_

_**--MC**_

**FIVE**

**The Bear**

**T**he next morning, I woke to rays of sunlight, languorously dancing on my skin. It took me a moment to remember my climb last night, and I vaguely wondered if it had all been a dream.

When everyone had awakened, Kiba kindled a fire and we had breakfast—vegetables, again.

"So, are we going to keep going forward?" Tenten directed the question at all of us.

"I do not know," Lee said. "This forest is creepy, but if we turned back …that would be like giving up."

"I say we turn back." As Kiba spoke, Akamaru euphemistically whimpered his agreement. "This forest is scaring both Akamaru and me. We could still find Raevynn. Maybe we missed her civilization when we were heading south; her letter might be wrong because she didn't know for sure where she was going when she left."

Lee stuck out his bottom lip as if he was thinking, and Tenten raised her eyebrows. No one said anything, but I could tell they were contemplating what Kiba had said. When Lee gave a slight nod and Tenten cocked her head to the side, I knew they were agreeing with him.

Tenten started to say, "Then let's turn ar—"

"No!" I interjected. The three of them looked at me with blank faces. "I think we should keep going," I continued. "Turning back would be giving up." I paused, taking a deep breath. "Giving up on my mother."

Now they all thought about what I had said. I could feel tension stretch the air thin. "You guys knew her," I went on, willing to say anything to convince them, "since you were teenagers. You were her best friends. I know it's been a long time…but please don't give up?" My voice cracked at the end, and I hated how it turned out sounding like a question. I held each of their eyes in turn, trying my best not to be intimidated.

There was another long silence. Finally, Tenten said, "Raechylle should get to decide. It's mostly her life being affected by this mission."

Rock Lee nodded. "Okay."

Kiba was reluctant, but he said, "Alright, but I don't like this place."

"We're going forward," I confirmed, my confidence boosted.

Soon we were darting along again. I was glad to be moving. I didn't know what had compelled me to argue for going on, but I just didn't want to give up. I didn't want to give up on my mother.

But something was going to happen that would change all that.

Just as we were about to sit down in a clearing for lunch, we head a rustling in the tall grass, and it wasn't the wind. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, and a sense of foreboding filled my stomach.

It was a brown bear, ambling through the grass, making a beeline towards us. I dropped my jaw. The bear was huge, huger than any animal I had ever seen.

Tenten loosed two shuriken that should have struck the animal on its snout. But all the shuriken did were embed themselves in the bear's thick, course fur. It battled at its snout with a massive paw, dislodging the shuriken.

More weapons flew at its wet nose, and this time they drew blood. The bear let out a bloodcurdling howl, halted, shook its nose, and narrowed its small black eyes at us, as if scrutinizing us to find out what we were. To us, we must have been like little bugs. Kiba's head barely came up to its elbow, and he was the tallest of the four of us. Then it came at us, doubling its previous speed.

I glanced at the others. It had been Tenten throwing the weapons, but Lee and Kiba, too, were standing ready for battle. Kiba asked, "Should we run? Do we want to kill it?"

"No," Lee called back. "We should try to redirect it."

I had an idea. "We should make it chase after something, into the forest," I suggested.

"What do we have that it might like?" Kiba shouted. Now the bear's footsteps were causing something of an earthquake. It was almost upon us.

"Here!" Tenten was holding up a piece of beef jerky, which she had gotten out of one of our backpacks. The last of our meat…but we had no choice if we didn't want to be completely depredated by this bear.

I nodded, and Tenten shouted at the bear, "Hey!" She waved the piece of beef jerky at the bear, who skidded to a halt a few meters in front of us, extending its snout and its nose, with a bit of blood pooling on the wet surface, down to sniff at the meat. Tenten stood stiff and rigid, trying not to alert the bear.

That was when I noticed that the bear was the wrong size. Though it was larger than any natural animal from home, it was too small compared to the trees. In fact, it only stood maybe five meters tall at the shoulder. That must have been measly for a bear in this forest…

I went over what I knew about bears…and it suddenly hit me. We were in greater danger than we knew.

Then there was a low, rumbling growl from behind us. Great. Now the greater danger was staring at our backs. I slowly turned, knowing what I would see and not wanting to see it. Tenten, Lee, and Kiba turned, too, and we all froze. Even the most well-trained, battle-ready ninja would have paused at the sight of the second bear.

This one was more than the right size for the forest. At least thirty meters at the shoulder, it was completely, outrageously, unimaginably huge. The cub lumbered around us and over to its mother, whimpering about its cut nose in bear-language.

The mother bear was furious at the little things that had hurt her cub. She let loose a massive roar. I could swear that the air rippled with the force of it, and I was sure that the ground was shaking.

Rock Lee, Tenten, Kiba, and I had one thought. Without wasting another moment, we grabbed our packs and bolted for the other side of the clearing. It wasn't that far away, but the mother bear saw us start to run and charged. Even at our fastest darting speeds, we were only ahead of the bear by about three meters. I thought I could feel its warm breath whooshing above out heads.

Blindly, I whipped two shuriken over my shoulder at the bear. As I could have predicted, the throwing stars got stuck in the bear's impenetrable fur. It just kept on loping towards us, the ground shaking with each of its strides.

We were in the forest now, and we tried to choose the narrowest paths between the trees so the bear couldn't follow us through. But every time it just crashed through the trees, disregarding the bark that was sent flying, or took a long way around.

Then, with Lee leading us, we tried to zigzag enough so that the bear got confused. But it was one smart bear, and it knew shortcuts and always reappeared behind us. Finally we lost sight of it…only to have it come at us from the front.

Each of us threw a few weapons at the only vulnerable part on the bear—its nose. One of my kunai struck its mark, and the bear roared again. Kiba slapped together a few hand signs and shouted something that I couldn't hear over the bear's ear-shattering roar. Then Akamaru jumped onto Kiba's back and transformed into a mirror image of Kiba. Immediately, both of them became whirling torpedoes, speeding towards the bear at high speeds.

The bear was puzzled at the two bullet-like things racing towards it. Finally it stopped roaring and stared at Kiba and Akamaru, confused. Then the two torpedoes rammed into the bear's front paws, which were the only parts that they could easily reach. The bear reared up and unleashed a humongous howl, but Kiba and Akamaru kept going, hitting the bear's hind feet, as well.

The bear set its front feet back on the ground, initiating a tremendous earthquake. I was frozen in place at the spectacle of the huge, furry body and its unimaginable power. Whirling around faster than I would have thought possible for such a humongous creature, it lifted its lips and gnashed its meter-long, sword-sharp teeth at one of the torpedoes. But, in perfect synchronicity, the two whirling projectiles lifted off of the ground and sped towards the bear's skull.

I was expecting the bear to at least be sent off-balance, but Kiba and Akamaru only left bruises on the sides of the bear's head. Roaring and howling, the bear reared up again. It was at least fifty meters tall, standing upright, and it batted away the torpedoes with its paws. When it went back to all fours, the ground shook violently. My heart pounded with terror.

Kiba and Akamaru fell to the ground, immediately racing back towards us to regroup. "It's strong!" Kiba shouted, somewhat unnecessarily, after Akamaru had turned back into a dog and had hopped into Kiba's jacket.

Suddenly I had an idea. I knew bears could climb trees, but that would take a while, and it, climbing with its claws, would be no match for our adhesive, chakra. Hoping the others would follow my lead, I turned to the nearest tree and ran up the trunk. I wasn't sure if I would get out of reach fast enough, but the fear churned my legs to move faster.

I could feel three sets of pounding footsteps and a set of pawsteps behind me, and was relieved that Tenten, Kiba, Akamaru, and Lee had followed me. I was running as fast as I could, and it was a matter of seconds before I was out of the bear's reach.

Pausing to catch my breath, I made sure to keep my chakra stream steady. Falling off was the last thing I wanted to do.

"That was a great idea, Raechylle," Lee panted. "Let's go higher and wait—"

Rock Lee didn't get to finish his sentence because the bear had lumbered to our tree and reared up on its hind legs again. Its head was now even with us. I started running, trying to get out of its reach again, but I heard someone cry out below me.

It was Kiba. He had been lower on the trunk than the rest of us, and had started running a moment too late. The bear had swiped its paw, including the massive, sharpened claws, at us, and had hit Kiba. I was sure Kiba was a goner, but Tenten unleashed a barrage of kunai and shuriken, all aimed at the bear's nose.

I glanced at the creature, whose nose was now crisscrossed with bloody cuts. It howled with pain and dropped back on all fours as even more of Tenten's projectile weapons met their marks on the bear's nose. It looked at us, as if weighing its options. Then it raced off into the forest, creating an earthquake with each step.

Kiba had been falling, but Lee had been quick enough to grab him. Now we were all standing sideways on the tree trunk. "Phew," Tenten said. Then we saw Kiba's wound.

A gash on his leg, deep enough to see the bone, was creating a waterfall of blood. Immediately, Lee lifted Kiba and jumped to the ground. Tenten and I followed them, landing carefully in the grass.

My first instinct was to check for the bear, but it was long gone. Lee helped Kiba sit down, and Tenten asked. "What are we going to do?"

"We have to stop the bleeding," I said. Lee nodded and ripped a wide strip from his shirt. He bandaged Kiba's leg tightly, but the blood soon soaked the cloth straight through. The wound wasn't going to stop bleeding just like that. What had I been expecting? Magic? Why did I suddenly feel very angry at the mission setup of Konohagakure because it did not require squads setting out on B-ranked missions to have a medic?

Kiba grimaced with the pain, and Akamaru whimpered, sharing his master's distress. I didn't know what to do.

Then the world stopped, as if someone had hit the pause button on a TV. A gentle wind caressed my hair, and I turned my head in slow motion. There was nothing there, but a voice whispered in my ear. _Head back north._ Then reality went back to normal speed. I didn't know what happened, but I knew we had to go back.

"We have to go back north," I said. The urgency in my voice must have connected with everyone; they gaped at me for a moment, and then rushed into action. Lee helped Kiba up and infused his chakra with Kiba's so they could run. Then, with Akamaru at our sides, we started dashing back towards the desert.

_**Don't you just LOVE Kiba and Akamaru!!!! All ninja should have a loyal animal companion like Kiba!! Sorry, just had to gush about the Inuzuka Clan's awesomeness for a bit…thanx for reading!!**_

_**--MC**_


	6. Chapter 6: A Discovery

_**According to my stats, more people have read Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 than Chapter 3. Read Chapter 3!!!! Okay sorry. I'm done. This chapter is a little more non-**_**Naruto-**_**like**__**but you'd better get used to it since a lot of the rest of the story is less **_**Naruto-**_**like. As always, read and review!! Thanks!!**_

_**--MC**_

**SIX**

**A Discovery**

**T**he next few days are blurry in my mind.

Near evening that day, we slowed down for a break. The rag around Kiba's leg was entirely saturated with crimson blood. Though the wound hadn't clotted over yet, but when we unwrapped it, it wasn't bleeding as much. I think we all knew it would need medical attention; it wasn't going to heal correctly on its own. Kiba was weak, and we had to help him take every step. Tenten found a stick that Kiba could use as a crutch, and that helped a little, though I could tell he was in tremendous pain. As the sun started setting, we picked up speed again. It was like we were running from the darkness and towards it all at once. Only when the sky was completely black did we stop for dinner. Everything was done in a silent hurry, and none of us slept deeply that night.

The next morning was the same—running at top speeds, with Lee infusing his chakra with Kiba's. By the end of that day, we were in the desert, the sand stretching around us in every direction.

It had taken us five days to cross the desert last time. Now we were at the other end in three exhausting, filthy days. When we reached the forest, my body was weak with fatigue, and I should have been annoyed with our dirtiness. But somehow the desperateness of the situation made me feel like we had to keep pressing on.

Kiba's wound had clotted, but it was red and swollen, and he was in a lot of pain. We kept on, exerting ourselves to the greatest of our capability and concentrating on speed. Through the trees we raced, barely glancing at each of them, hoping that we would make it back to Konoha in time, before the infection took him over.

It was the fourth day since the skirmish with the bear, but I felt like we had just left the huge forest, and I could only remember going through the desert if I tried really hard. I wondered vaguely if I was having brain problems, but somehow it was tiring to think. Somewhere inside I felt broken at not being able to keep going and find my mother, but mostly I was just numb. The only thing on my mind was finding help for Kiba, who was slowly getting worse.

While we ate lunch that day, the world suddenly started coming back to me. I don't know what had been going on before, but now I was finally registering my emotions, and there were two that were the most eminent in my mind.

First was the worry for Kiba, who had fallen asleep next to us, Akamaru curled up at his side. Tenten was afraid that his wound was too badly infected and that he would develop a fever. We had been pushing ourselves to our limits trying to travel as quickly as possible. But it all might have been in futility if Kiba worsened any more.

The other emotion was my crestfallenness at not being able to keep going and not being able to find my mother. I had told myself at the beginning of our mission not to set my sights too high, but some time during our travels, probably that night at the top of the tree in the super-sized forest, that had changed. My heart burned with the desire to find my mother. I had had some kind of feeling that I was going to meet her. And now that was all shattered.

My heart was still burning, but now it was with frustration. Somewhere deep in my mind, I thought about directing my anger at that contemptible, vehement bear, but I couldn't. I could only blame myself for letting my hopes get so high. Hadn't I learned that life was made just to not go your way? Why was I even trying?

It had been hopeless since the beginning. I was usually a person who thought things through, weighed her options, and made a decision. I usually played it safe. But somehow I had thrown myself into this whole thing about finding my mother. The only person I could blame was myself, for getting us all into this ordeal. I was filled with regret. I should never have started this mission. How was _I, _a pessimistic, cynical thirteen-year-old girl, even with help from three jonin and a ninja dog, going to find a woman who had been missing for thirteen years and had left out of her own will?

My mother had left because she thought she was dangerous. She had made that decision for the good of everyone. Why couldn't I make a better decision and just find my father, instead? Lee and Tenten wouldn't have had to almost kill themselves trying to move quickly to save Kiba, who wouldn't be in a life-threatening state had it not been for this mission. And now he was going to die.

_No, _I told myself. If I wasn't going to find my mother and was going to stay a hopeless pessimist for the rest of my life, there was at least one thing I had to do. I couldn't let Kiba die. After all, I was the one who heard that voice, the one who told me to go back north. I was not going to let our efforts be in vain.

Now I began to ruminate about what that voice was, but I couldn't come up with a plausible solution.

Kiba slept through our lunch, and when we woke him up to start moving again, he seemed feverish and even weaker than before. Akamaru was whimpering helplessly, trying to lick his master' s face. A heavy stone settled in the pit of my stomach. Kiba's wound was swollen with infection. He was definitely in big trouble if we didn't find a healer soon.

Just as we hoisted him up to start running again, I felt the world pause for the second time. The same voice said, _Get in the trees!_

"Everyone in the trees!" I said. One look at me, and, for some reason, they obeyed.

I was on a branch of one of the lower trees, trying to stay quiet. Why I felt compelled not to make a sound, I didn't know. Then I saw something on the trail under us.

I paused, holding my breath, and everyone else, having seen it, too, remained silent and still on their branches. It was a horse and its rider, and they were doing nothing to hide themselves. The horse was outfitted in gaudy tapestry-blanket type cloths, and the rider clad entirely in plates of armor. They were trotting complacently along, seeming not to have noticed us at all.

Lee, who was in a tree close to mine, whispered, "Should we follow them?"

I thought about it for a moment. The horse and rider certainly didn't come from Konoha. Perhaps they were from the civilization my mother had been heading for…

I nodded at Lee, who signaled Tenten and Akamaru to follow. Lee was still helping Kiba, who was barely conscious. We silently pursued the animal and armor-clad man. They weren't moving very quickly, so we had to slow down to stay on their trail. After a few meters, they turned off the main road onto a clandestine path, leading deeper into the forest. We followed them closely.

Soon, we reached the edge of a very large clearing, and, ahead of us, we could see a massive structure made entirely of stone. It was a…wall…? Sure enough, a gray stone wall enclosed something that we couldn't see at this angle. Four towers stood at the corners of the square that the wall made, and a stagnant river surrounded the entire thing.

We all exchanged glances and stayed in the trees as the man and his horse exited the forest and went on trotting towards the river. There was a huge wooden slab on the wall directly on the other side of the river, and a window above that. I think there was someone sitting in the room with the window, and the man in armor drew a sword from a sheath at his side and raised it in the air above his head.

After a moment, the man lowered his sword, sheathed it, and sat on his horse in silence. Then the huge slab of wood began to move. The top corners began to move down towards the ground, and I realized that it was a drawbridge. Whoever was in the room above it must have seen the man's signal and was lowering the bridge.

When the bridge touched down on our side of the river, the man rode onto it and crossed it quickly. With the bridge down, I could see an iron grate on the other side that was starting to rise. When the man and his horse entered the wall's protection, the grate was lowered and the drawbridge was pulled up again.

I thought all the opening and closing and letting down the bridge and taking it up again was a bit superfluous just for letting in one man on a horse, but maybe that was the way people lived here.

When the bridge was all the way up, I jumped to the ground. Soon, we were all standing on the narrow trail, Kiba leaning on Lee and Akamaru whining softly.

"What should we do?" Tenten asked.

Rock Lee said, "Do you think this is the civilization Raevynn sought out? It sure isn't across the desert."

"Raevynn wrote the note before she left. There's no way she could have been sure she had to cross the desert," Tenten pointed out.

I looked at the wall again and thought about how far we had gone, only to come running—like cowards—back to this forest. Suddenly I felt a wave of selfishness wash over me, washing away the hopelessness of my previous regretful thoughts. I had come into this, and I was not going to give up. What happened to finding my mother? Here was a civilization right in front of me. "We can walk across the water and scale those walls easily enough," I said determinedly. "I think we should go in and ask around about my mother. Maybe we could get some help for Kiba, too."

The others nodded and followed me as I headed for the river. One look inside and I felt a qualm in my stomach. The water was completely, absolutely, repulsively filthy! It was brown and muddy-looking, with little white squirmy things swimming around in it. It was about fifteen feet wide, but I couldn't tell how deep it was for the cloudiness.

Tenten was looking into the water, too, and said, apprehensively, "I would not want to fall into that."

"How are we going to walk across if we don't know how deep it is?" Rock Lee asked.

Walking on water wasn't a very difficult skill if you knew how it worked. All you had to do was emit a flow of chakra from the soles of your feet, regulating it to match the movement of the water so that you stayed on top of it. But you wanted to know where the bottom was, so you'd know when to stop the flow of your chakra—or you could release too much or too little and fall in the water.

Tenten had a solution to find out how deep the repugnant river was. "Make sure I don't fall in," she commanded, making me hold on to her arm. She placed one foot on the water, and I think she was sending chakra down to see if she could feel the bottom.

After about a minute, she reported, "The bottom is only about two meters down; I thought it would be much deeper."

"All that filth is tricking us with its disgusting darkness," I said derisively. I still didn't want to let even the bottoms of my shoes touch that.

"I'll go first," Tenten offered. We nodded, and she slowly eased her weight onto the foot that was on the water. I let go of her arm, and she set her other foot on the water's surface, as well. With slow, steady strides, she made her way to the middle, where she wobbled a little. Thankfully, she recovered and progressed to the other side.

"Watch out, it gets deeper in the middle," Tenten called out.

"You go next," Rock Lee told me. "And Akamaru."

"Okay…" I said, looking at the dog. He blinked at me as if to say he could do it by himself. I gave him a curt nod.

The water was still disgusting.

I cautiously extended my right leg over the water and put my foot on the surface. First I allowed my chakra to probe down into the dark water and find the bottom. Tenten was right—the river was only about two meters deep.

Just as carefully, I placed my other foot on the water and made sure my chakra was distributed evenly so that I was sure not to fall in. Placing each foot precariously every time I took a step, I made it to the other side, trying not to think about what might be in the water.

"See, Raechylle," Tenten said when Akamaru and I were safely standing on the other shore. "It wasn't that bad."

Kiba and Rock Lee crossed together, Kiba leaning heavily on his comrade's shoulder. I hoped we could find a healer in this place.

Once they made it across, we were staring at the forty-foot wall looming above us, cooling us with its shadow. Running up a wall is pretty much the same as walking on water. You have to release a stream of chakra from the soles of your feet so that you stay connected to the wall. In fact, the technique is quite a bit easier than walking on water because a wall never moves.

Tenten started up, and once she was a few feet up, I ran at the wall, and Akamaru started up after me. With Lee helping Kiba again, we were soon all at the top, and we hopped through one of the gaps in the battlements onto a wooden walkway attached to the wall. These people must be pretty ignorant not to have noticed us.

But the thought came too soon. The moment Tenten touched down on the walkway, four men in armor were pointing pikes at our necks.

_**Yes, I know, medieval castles will never find a place in **_**Naruto**_**, so sorry. But I just had to do it, since that's how my story goes. Wait, now that I think of it, in that **_**Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow Naruto **_**movie, wasn't there a castle?? Well that's not part of the actual **_**Naruto **_**plot…Idk…anyways, thanks for reading!! Please review!! **_

_**--MC**_


	7. Chapter 7: Castle of the Heavens

_**Alright, here's Chapter 7. As usual, read and review!! And if any of you **_**Naruto**_** fans can tell me if "temari" means "ferret" and "itachi" means "weasel," or if it's the other way around, or if their names don't mean anything like that at all, it would be greatly appreciated. Also, what does "arashi" mean?? And does "yuhi" mean "sunset"?? These might seem kind of random but I'm really curious to know!!**_

_**--MC**_

**SEVEN**

**Castle of the Heavens**

"**W**e come in peace!" I threw my arms up into the air to show that I wasn't going to attack. Everyone else followed suit.

Lee, with Kiba leaning on him, Akamaru, and I were still squatted on the battlement, while Tenten was standing on the walkway.

"We mean you no harm," Tenten said diplomatically.

One of the men looked at another, and the second one said, "Alright, but you still have to come with us for entering our castle without permission. Follow me."

Finally the armored men lowered their pikes, and I let go of the breath I didn't know I had been holding. We followed the man at the head while two of the men flanked us and the other brought up the rear, leaving us no chance for escape.

We walked down the wall's length and descended a flight of rickety stairs. Scores of wood-and-straw huts hugged the wall, leaving most of the middle of the castle area open. All the people I could see were working at small plots of land in front of their homes. They gave us wary glances as we passed before returning to work. What an assiduous bunch…but there were children at play, as well.

The armored men took us to the largest building within the castle's walls, a massive stone structure, with towers extending out of the top, located at the very center.

When we reached the doors of the building, our escorts spoke with two more armored people standing guard. The guards beckoned for the four of us to follow and they took us inside the building.

It was poorly lit inside, and it took my eyes a moment to adapt to the dimness. Akamaru gave a half-whimper-half-growl and the hair on the back of his neck rose. I noticed that it was rather cool in here for a summer afternoon, but I supposed that was because of the stone walls.

The room we had entered was large, the floor smooth stone and the walls adorned with tapestries. Long tables spanned the room, with an aisle down the middle, and a few serving maids were scrubbing the floor. At the very front of the room the stones were raised, so there was a kind of pedestal that covered the room's width.

Upon this raised section of the room, near a short set of stairs, stood a magnificent golden throne studded with jewels. On it sat a man in furs with a gold crown on his head. The guards brought us to the foot of the stairs to stand before the man.

"Your Majesty, these four and the dog were found climbing over the wall on the east side. We believe them to come from the north," one of the armored men said.

"Thank you." The man sitting on the throne had a charismatic, rumbling voice. "You are dismissed."

Addressing us now, the man continued, "I am King Reginald of the Castle of the Heavens. Before I go to accusing you of trespassing on our land, I shall allow you to speak for yourselves." His stern brown eyes looked at each of us in turn.

I looked at my comrades, and found them all looking at me. Tenten mouthed, "You speak."

Why me?

But it didn't look like anyone else was going to make a move, so I looked at the king again. He didn't seem to be the bloodthirsty type, just expected us to say at least something.

I ruminated about it for a moment before deciding to tell the truth. Our causes were honest enough—we wanted to find Raevynn. If she wasn't here, we'd ask to leave peacefully and not trespass again.

"We're here to look for Raevynn Martin Hyuga," I began. Some sort of recognition flashed in the king's eyes, and he looked at me expectantly. I went on with a simplified version of our story; I told him that there was a problem in my city and we needed Raevynn to help solve it. I also told him that one of our comrades had had been injured.

King Reginald listened politely while I spoke. Then, when he looked at me, his eyes were kind and knowing. "Raven spoke of you," he said. "You are mirror images of each other; I cannot doubt that you two are related."

"I'm her daughter."

"Very well, then. For all she has done for my people, I cannot deny any kin of Raven's my hospitality." The king waved at a servant who was nearby, cleaning the floor. "Take them to the master suite," he commanded. "Have some food and drink sent up. Raven can heal the injured one."

The maid nodded and curtsied. Turning to us, she said, "Follow me."

We exited the room through a door in a back corner and mounted a flight of stairs. We climbed for about five minutes, helping Kiba along, before the maid led us through a door and down a hall. Then we entered a grand room filled with opulent furniture and fur rugs. It even had a fireplace on one wall, complete with a mahogany mantle.

"This is the living room of the grand suite," the maid said. She gestured at four doors that were evenly spaced along the back wall. "Through those doors you will find two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Make yourselves at home; I shall have your food up in a few minutes."

Without another word, the maid left us alone in the living room.

After we just looked at each other for a few moments, Lee spoke. "What is this place?" he asked, marveling at the lavish furnishings. The coffee table was made of white wood and there were animal fur throws on every chair. There was no denying that this was a room for the most revered—or rich—of guests.

"The king seemed to know Raevynn," Tenten stated. "And he doesn't seem spiteful or anything."

I nodded. Then a solemn expression crossed Tenten's face. She asked me, "Have you been feeling okay?"

Why would she ask that? "Yeah…"

"Well, um, it's been twice now, that you got a strange look on your face and told us to do something."

I thought for a moment, and then it hit me. Oh. She was talking about the voice. Suddenly I realized that I should have been worried about myself for hearing voices. But I wasn't. For some reason, I trusted the voice. I wasn't sure how the three of them would take it, but I told them about how the world had been "pausing" and I had been hearing the voice.

"Raechylle, we have to find out what's been happening," Tenten said, but before anyone could say anything else we heard rapid footsteps in the hall. There was a knocking on the door before a woman let herself in.

Akamaru ran to her, barking happily, and she bent down and caressed him before turning to us. The dog ran to me, his tongue lolling, tail beating at the air furiously, turning back and forth between the woman and me, still yelping in joy. As he continued his happy dance, I wondered what he was trying to say. But Kiba, the only one who understood dog-language, seemed to be unconscious, supported by Rock Lee.

The woman was wearing an exquisite crimson gown with gold trim on the hem, collar, and sleeves. Her delicate hands were clasped in front of a gold girdle and gold and silver bracelets encircled her slender wrists. Her ebony hair was wavy and fine; it was left to cascade down her shoulders, all the way to her waist. A thin red ribbon served as a headband, doing a poor job of restraining her lustrous tresses.

But, behind the extravagant garments, it was her face that really hit me. She was _me_. Finely shaped eyebrows, large eyes, a dignified nose, and small lips. The exact same thing I saw every time I looked in the mirror.

I truly was exactly _her spitting image_.

I looked her over again, and she seemed to be taking me in the same way. We were complete reflections of each other save for two things—my hair barely reached past my shoulders while she could probably sit on the ends of hers, and her eyes were hazel when mine were gray.

Finally she looked me in the eye. "Raechylle?"

"Mother."

_**No, the story is not going to end soon. There will be more writing and more twists, as well, in case you're getting bored. And if anyone can answer the questions in my author's note a the top, PLEASE tell me!! Thanks…**_

_**--MC**_


	8. Chapter 8: Raven

_Okay, I'm having remembering issues here. In other words, I forgot whether I posted a chapter yesterday or not. I don't think I did…sorry!! Well, whatever, here's chapter eight. Read and review, plzz!! _

_**--MC**_

EIGHT Raven 

**B**efore I could say anything more, my mother enveloped me an embrace that definitely made up for all the ones we had missed out on in my thirteen years. I hugged her back just as passionately, for there was no doubt she was my mother.

And finally, finally, it felt like a place where I belonged. In the few seconds that I had been with her, my mother had made me feel more at home than I ever had in the mansion in Konohagakure. A feeling of acceptance and satisfaction bloomed in my heart and soon spread all over my body, to the tips of my fingers and toes.

I let down my aloofness for a moment. And it felt good to finally let in a sense of belonging. I belonged with my mother.

When she released me after a full five minutes, there were tears trickling down her cheeks. "Oh, Raechylle," she murmured, holding me by the shoulders so she could look at me again. "I feel like I'm looking into a mirror," she remarked. "Save for the eyes. You have your father's eyes."

Did I? Those spiteful, condescending, Byakugan-gifted all-seeing eyes? It was probably a compliment, but it half sounded like an insult.

"Well, let's sit down," my mother said, gesturing to the finely made chairs surrounding the coffee table. We each took a seat—five chairs, perfect.

Mother looked at me, smiling through her tears. "Well, we have a lot of catching up to do, don't we?" She laughed a little, a sweet tinkle that sounded just like _my_ laugh. Then she said, "Oh, what happened to you, Kiba?"

She closed here eyes and put her hands in the air over Kiba's wound. I think she murmured something, but I couldn't tell what it was. The next thing I knew, a warm, emerald green glow was radiating from her hands to the injury, and when it disappeared, the slash was healed—completely gone, just like that! She then put her hand over his forehead and made that green light again. Then, Kiba's eyes were suddenly bright and he said, "Thank you."

Akamaru barked in delight, and licked my mother's hand before sitting down by Kiba's chair.

We all stared at her, but my mother seemed to think nothing of it. Sighing, she continued, "Well, I'm dying to find out what's been happening to you and why you're here, but I suppose I owe you at least this favor—I'll tell my story and sate your curiosity first."

I nodded, eager to hear what she had to say.

"Okay," my mother began. She glanced at the ceiling, as if she were remembering. Then she looked back at me. "You know that I'm a sorceress, correct?"

I nodded.

"Well, after I left Konohagakure," my mother went on, "all I had with me were the possessions I packed and my loyal mare, Katana. Day after day, I rode southward. It wasn't hard to find food in the forest, which I was familiar with, and I was stocking up for my trip through the desert.

"But, as I'm sure you found, there would be no need to cross the desert. One day, as I was riding along the road, one of the spirits—it was a goldfinch, I remember—chirped, 'There are humans over there.' So I went to find out, and I stumbled upon this castle.

"The people here were kind to me, especially King Reginald. Of course, they had to make sure I was no threat to them. Once they knew I meant no hostility, they easily accepted me into their civilization. I never knew if these were the people I had been looking for, or if I was in a completely different place altogether, and even though my heart was broken and my spirit was crying out for home, I soon grew accustomed to their ways.

"They're a very rustic group, though not so far as bucolic. They hardly have any technology, but they get on fine without it, and even though they haven't had a war for centuries, they have knights—the men in the suits of armor—to guard the castle. The king asked what I could do, and I said I was a medic, so he assigned me to work with the physician.

"After three weeks here, I decided I had to tell them the truth about my sorceress identity; they had a right to know in case I became dangerous. The king was very open-minded about it, for he had always marveled at magick of any sort. Most of the citizens weren't too riled up, for they love their king and always take his lead.

"Sometimes the spirits help me heal my patients; they can find the illnesses faster than I can and tell me what to do to cure the patient. The physician was a good man, and between our two methods of medicine we saved many a life. By the second year I was here, I was earning well enough to support myself, and I was getting along fine, but I always wondered what had happened to the people I left at home, and if I could ever go back.

"I finally came up with a plan. I sent my osprey spirit up to Konohagakure. If I entered a trance, I could mind-touch with the osprey and see you. Everything seemed fine; your father was a bit melancholy, but you all were alive and happy enough. I was trying to figure out a way to make contact with you but I can't mind-touch with actual living things, and there's no way to get a letter or something up there without sending someone to deliver it, and there are no phones or computers here. I told myself that I would hide it out in the Castle of Heavens for maybe a year or two longer—to make sure I could really control myself and my spirits—and then perhaps I could return to my homeland.

"Oh, and the spelling of my name changed from R-A-E-V-Y-N-N to simply R-A-V-E-N. Since both are pronounced the same way, whenever someone wrote to me, they always spelled my name the banal way. Gradually Raven caught on with everyone, because I was the wise one, watching over them.

"But then the physician died. It was a particularly cold winter, the third year I had been here. People were falling ill all around the castle and one of them happened to be my partner. He was an old man and it was his time to go, but I was sad to see him leave because that would mean that the responsibility of being healer for the entire castle would fall upon me.

"I did my job well, and when all the business was channeled to me, I earned more than enough. For two more years I stayed here, every so often sending one of my guardian-angel spirits to check on you. I so wanted to go home, for I knew I could control my spirits well, but neither could I leave the castle people and King Reginald without a doctor. I was completely torn by longing and fidelity.

"You see, though the people here are kind enough and have more than their share of integrity, they are not the brightest people I've met. Half of them don't know how to read, and I couldn't find anyone to train to be my successor as healer. I confided in King Reginald, and he had every literate child in the castle come before me for interviewing, and I took on a few of them to try to teach them healing. None of them got past the basics—somehow they just didn't seem to get it, couldn't remember what herb did what or how to control their chakra or perform a healing jutsu. I was so frustrated with them, and all I wanted to do was go home. Because, yes, I still consider Konohagakure my home.

"Much as I wanted to return to my family and home, there was no way I could leave these people without a healer. So year after year I searched for an apprentice, to no avail. Even though my heart was sick with homesickness, I told myself not to lose hope, and that sooner or later a smarter child was bound to come along. The only thing that kept me from losing my mind was my osprey, whom I sent up to Konoha regularly just to get a glimpse of you, your brother, and your father.

"It was my eleventh year here before I found Nathen. He comes from a family of nomads who had decided to settle here, and he was so much brighter than the rest of the kids I had seen. He was twelve, the perfect age for apprenticeship. Right away I took him under my wing. And is he a smart kid! For most students, when I was in school, it takes three or four years to learn everything right, but he's learned almost everything in just two.

"It'll be just a few more months before he can be initiated, and I was planning to return to Konohagakure soon…but now you've come along!"

I nodded when my mother stopped speaking. What she said made sense, and I guess it justified her thirteen-year-long absence from my life…

"So how have you been?" Mother asked, ever so _normally_.

I told her that I was fine, that I was a chunin, that Father probably hadn't been raising me the way she had hoped he would—Mother clicked her tongue disapprovingly at that—and about how Tenten had been like a parent to me. Then I told her about Father's kidnapping, and the Black Dragons, and how we had come here to seek her out and see if she could help locate Father.

"Of course I'll help find Neji," my mother declared with resolve in her eyes. "And it shan't be difficult, either; I know just what to do. But that'll have to wait until later."

Then my mother looked at Tenten, her voice suddenly distrustful. "You and Neji don't happen to be…" She trailed off, glanced at the ceiling, and then began again, "It's too far away to hear sound through my osprey when I send her to look in on you…um…well…Neji doesn't happen to…to think I'm dead…does he?"

Her face blank, Tenten just stared at Mother for a few long seconds. Then she broke into laughter. Through her guffaws she managed to choke out, "I don't—know—what he thinks—about if you're—still—alive—or not, but—as for the—other matter, of—course—not! Neji—and I—have more—dignity—than that!"

Rock Lee, Kiba, and I had no idea what they were talking about.

Mother sighed. "Hm. I guess I was foolish to ask, then. I apologize if I offended you."

Tenten finally calmed her laughter. "No offense taken," she replied, grinning.

After a pause, I finally asked, "_What_?"

My mother and Tenten exchanged a glance, my mother suddenly amiable. It was she who replied for Tenten, "Nothing."

Crossing my arms, I made a face, but no one took notice.

Then I got the idea to ask my mother about the voice. My intuition told me she would know something about it. And she did. When I asked, she replied, "So that's where my osprey went!"

We looked at her blankly.

"My osprey, my guardian-angel spirit, has been disappearing these past few days, and she won't tell me where she went. What you've described is what it feels like when a spirit talks to someone when they're not a sorcerer—I've read about it."

"So…an osprey spirit told me those things?"

"Yep."

My first instinct was to be skeptical about it. But in that moment, I resolved to change. This was my mother. She believed in magick—no, she could _do magick_. I decided that I was going to stop being aloof, pessimistic, and cynical, once and for all. I was going to change and start believing in what I once would have deemed impossible. I was going to start hoping, just as my mother had all these years she had been here, separated from her family and friends and restrained by her duty.

I said, "Tell her thank you. She was a lot of help."

"Okay…" Mother was saying. "Alright, shall we find Neji now?"

_**Okay…..yeah!! okay I don't know. LOL. Thanks for reading, and PLEASE review!!**_

_**--MC**_


	9. Chapter 9: Scrying

_Hello again everyone…well here's Chapter 9. Please ignore the increasing Wiccan-ness!! Enjoy…_

_**--MC**_

NINE Scrying 

"**Y**ou mean you can do that right now?" I was incredulous.

"Of course I can!" Mother got up and replied, "Follow me." We all got up and she led us out the door and back down the hall through which we came. When we came to the stairs, we ascended towards the very top of the building. We climbed until my thighs burned, and it had to be at least twenty minutes since we had left the suite.

Finally we came to the end of the staircase and faced a heavy door, which my mother unlocked with a key attached to a bracelet on her wrist. She opened the door, and she let us inside.

It was a magnificent room. Maybe about twenty by twenty feet, two of its walls were made of floor-to-ceiling windows, just like the ones in Father's bedroom. The floor was polished wood, but the polish had been eroded by something that had scraped a circle whose diameter was almost as wide as the room.

Along once of the two walls that weren't spanned with windows were tables covered with various occult materials—mortar and pestles, quills, stones, statues, dried herbs, potted plants, books, scrolls, candles, incense. My mother had been a witch as well as a sorceress; I knew that from her Books of Shadows. Now I was curious just what type of magick she worked…though I was getting annoyed by how disorganized her tables were.

But the most stunning, spectacular thing about the room was its view. Through the massive windows, we could see all the way to the desert; the windows were opened to the south and east. The door we had just come through was on the north side. I wondered if, had there been a window on the north side, we could see all the way back to Konoha.

Green forest spanned out beneath us. I think we were in a tower that extended out of the building at the center of the castle. It was a breathtaking sight—rivers and streams were tiny blue veins in a mass of greenery, and the azure sky just added to majestic ambience of the serene landscape.

There was a door in the back wall, in a tiny alcove not cordoned off by tables. Presently it opened, and a boy who was about my age, maybe a little older, stepped into the room. He had dark blond hair and a stern look in his brown eyes, and I wondered why he was here.

"Mistress Raven," the boy said reverently. His voice was soft, but seemed to resonate with wisdom beyond his years. "Might I inquire who our visitors are?"

"Nathen, I would like to introduce you to my daughter and a few of my friends from the ninja village in the north." Mother stepped to the side so the boy could see us. Then she continued, "Tenten, Kiba, Lee, Raechylle, meet Nathen, my apprentice."

"Pleased to meet you," Nathen said, dipping his head a little. Then, to Mother, he added, "Do you require any assistance?"

My mother replied, "Yes, please. I want you to help me set up a circle. We're going to be scrying today."

Scrying? I wondered what that was, but I supposed I was going to find out.

"Yes, ma'am," Nathen responded obediently, turning to the tables and taking a piece of white chalk out of a dish. Meanwhile, my mother lifted a heavy-seeming stone pedestal from the corner and placed it in the middle of the circle worn into the floor. The stone prism was about two feet tall and a foot square on top. Upon its black-and-white-marbled upper surface Mother placed a bowl of clear water. Then she retrieved a candle, a smaller bowl of water, a feather, and a bowl of salt and placed them at the base of the stone pedestal.

Nathen stood at the edge of the circle, on the north side near us. He seemed to be waiting for a cue or something from my mother, who was now kneeling in front of the stone. She held her hands over the bowl of water and said in a voice that sounded like it was calling on the heavens,

"_I cleanse and consecrate thee in the name of the God and Goddess_

_ May their blessings rest within thee_

_ Creatures of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth_

_ Work thy will by my desire_."

Mother's voice reverberated with an aura of magic that made me shiver. Suddenly I felt disconnected to her, as if we were separated by the fact that she knew "magic" and I didn't. I hadn't really paid attention to the unusual feeling of euphoria that I had been harboring in my heart since I met my mother, but now, for some reason, I could feel it wane a little.

Nathen bent down and put the chalk to the floor. He drew a new circle over the eroded one in the wood. Briefly I wondered how many circles had been drawn on this floor, and what drawing the circle was even for. I also wondered at how the boy could draw such a perfect circle with a piece of chalk.

As he moved around with the chalk dragged on the floor, he chanted,

"_In the name of the God and Goddess_

_ I cleanse, consecrate, and now conjure thee_

_ O Circle of Power."_

Just before he reached the place where he started, he stepped into the circle and drew it closed behind him. Then, on the spot that the line had ended, he slammed the heel of his hand onto the ground.

"_This Circle is sealed._

_ So mote it be."_

What strange words. I wondered at their meaning, but Nathen and my mother were already moving on to the next phase of their ritual. Mother brought the feather—a large, sleek gray one—to the eastern quarter of the circle and ceremoniously placed it on the ground.

Then she crossed her arms across her chest, making an X. Slowly, she uncrossed them until they were spread-eagled at her sides, while saying,

"_Angels of Air in the East_

_ Watch over us today in this ritual_

_So mote it be."_

Nathen had taken the candle and placed it on the ground in front of him, at the southern quarter. It was a small yellow candle in a glass dish, and all of a sudden its wick caught fire. It was simply from Nathen glaring at it…I could hardly believe what I knew I had seen. Then he made an X over himself with his arms and said,

"_Angels of Fire in the South_

_ Watch over us today in this ritual_

_ So mote it be."_

He, too, opened his arms to that they were sticking straight out in both directions. My mother strode to the west quarter with the bowl of water. She repeated the procedure, this time saying,

_"Angels of Water in the West_

_ Watch over us today in this ritual_

_ So mote it be."_

Lastly, Nathen brought the bowl of salt to the north quarter and opened his arms. Now the words were,

_"Angels of Earth in the North_

_ Watch over us today in this ritual_

_ So mote it be."_

Then both of them went to the center and stood facing each other over the stone pedestal. My mother spoke, and it might have looked like her words were directed at Nathen, but I knew they were meant for some higher power invisible to my eyes. And once again that feeling of belonging and happiness shrunk. Somehow I could feel her connecting with a higher power and losing a little more connection with me.

_"Lord and Lady, precious Spirit,_

_ Lend us your goodwill_

_ Watch over us today in this ritual_

_ So mote it be."_

I felt some kind of unseen entity enter the room at my mother's words. After that, my mother headed to the north quarter while her apprentice took the south. They started walking in a clockwise direction, chanting a song made of words long lost to human civilization. It was a harsh, beautiful song, and soon their walk had turned into a run.

The song touched me somewhere deep inside. It was like I had heard the words before and could connect to them somehow, and a feeling of _magic_ filled me. The feeling of connection with my mother grew a little.

Something different was in the air—like extra chakra, and suddenly the floor-to-ceiling windows took on an iridescent blue sheen. I couldn't see anything through them, and I wondered how that had happened.

Around and around Mother and Nathen whirled until they were a blur, almost floating on their toes. It would be a difficult task even for the most skilled ninja to accelerate to such a speed, and here were two people, far from ninja, racing around right before my eyes on…magick?

I could feel the energy bubbling around me. It felt like chakra, except thicker, with a heady air around it. It wasn't visible, but I bet, had I been able to use the Byakugan, I could have seen it wafting through the room on scintillating, aromatic wings.

Suddenly Nathen and my mother halted, my mother's dress swaying with the abrupt change in velocity. Both of them brought up their right hands so that they were extended in the air above their heads. I felt all the energy being sucked into their two beings via their hands. It was a strange feeling—one moment the chakra was all around, and the next Nathen and Mother had brought it into them. If this was chakra control, it was magnificent.

Then they went to the stone pedestal and knelt on opposite sides of it. My mother placed her right hand on one side of the bowl, and Nathen put his hand on the other side. They closed their eyes for a moment, and I could feel the air quaking with a sudden augmentation in the energy level.

Was this magick?

Mother and Nathen opened their eyes at the exact same moment, and the surface of the water rippled, though I was sure nothing in the room had moved. Then the water turned a dark indigo-blue color, and the two of them gazed into it.

They sat like that for quite a while, and we all watched (including Akamaru, who sitting at Kiba's side), captivated by the strange pagan ritual. After maybe fifteen minutes, the water's surface rippled again and it turned back to a normal color. Mother and Nathen seemed to suddenly realize that they were in the world. It was like they were waking up from a trance, and now they rose and Nathen said,

"_God and Goddess_

_May this working not reverse, nor place upon us any curse_

_And may all astrological correspondences be correct for this working._

_With harm to none._

_So mote it be."_

After he finished speaking, the windows became transparent again. It was quite a strange happening, and somehow I knew that there was no other word for it than magick. Mother had described it in her Books of Shadows, but that wasn't the same as actually seeing it done. I knew that, having watched two people perform _magick_, I would never be the same.

Nathen went to the north, spread his arms, and said a farewell statement to the Angels of Earth. When he was done his arms were crossed in an X in front of him. Mother did the same for the Angels of Water, and then Nathen for the Angels of Fire, and finally Mother again for the Angels of Air.

Then, after returning to the middle, Mother said a farewell to the God and Goddess, and Nathen wiped up the chalk circle in a counterclockwise direction. Once the two of them had put everything back to where it had come from, Tenten, Lee, Kiba, and I were finally acknowledged.

"We saw Neji," Mother said, "but he was not in a very nice place. Apparently it was a dungeon, and we saw a guard come down and take him up to a sort of ramshackle wooden building in the forest. It was very dark in the building, but there was someone sitting behind a desk, and Neji was forced to talk with him. We couldn't hear anything because it's too far away, but I'm pretty sure that this shack-building is somewhere near Konoha, to the west, and, as I said before, in the forest."

I nodded, opening my mouth to ask what the plan was, but Kiba cut me short. "What the heck did you guys just do?" he asked cynically.

"A scrying ritual," my mother replied.

"Sure…" Kiba said, still skeptical.

Brightly, Mother went on, "And now we're going to do a teleportation spell. Nathen, watch closely. This is something you'll have to learn. Oh, and I have to leave a note for the king."

"You mean we are leaving now?" Rock Lee said loudly.

"Yes, we are, is there a problem?" Mother said, nonchalantly, as she walked to a table, found a piece of paper and a quill, and started scribbling something.

It was a rhetorical question, but Lee still responded, "We took so long to get here and now you are saying you can get us back with a _spell_? Not even the most skilled ninja could teleport all this distance!"

"Well, magick's different from shinobi techniques, isn't it." This time there wasn't even a question in my mother's voice. She signed the note, poked a hole through it, and went to the door. She disappeared behind it for a moment, and when she came back, she added, more amiably, "Gosh, Lee, don't be so mundane."

Rock Lee settled into silence. Mother now turned to her apprentice.

"All right, Nathen, tell me why a teleportation spell doesn't require a proper altar devotion, quarter-calling, and Goddess invocation," my mother said.

Nathen thought for a moment. "Well, if you're teleporting, you're not going to be in the same place you started, and you can't close the quarters or thank the God and Goddess."

"Very good. Now, shall we begin?" Mother redrew the circle on the ground with chalk, but this time, instead of saying what Nathen had before while drawing the circle, she spoke in a guttural language that sounded like grating stones, but at the same time was beautiful and melodic.

Before she closed the circle, she had us all stand in it. After she drew it closed, she went to the center and held up her right hand. Once again she began speaking the strange language, but this time it sounded like she was singing. The notes were rough and discordant, yet the dissonance held a strange beauty and a soulful tune that normal singing could never achieve.

Then the room started getting fuzzy. The edges blurred into each other until it seemed as though we were spinning. Mother went right on chanting, and Nathen watched, in rapture. I was starting to get dizzy when our surroundings flashed entirely black—then, before I could think, white—and then dark purple—and just as quickly, light green—and finally white, which marbled into black…my head spun for a moment. The, finally, I could make out our surroundings.

Somehow my mother had teleported us into a dusty attic-type place, with a white circle drawn into the wood floor. Though there were no windows, somehow I could feel a sun glowing down upon me.

Around the edges of the room were tables, desks, and bookshelves littered with a plethora of magick-related items, papers, and books. In fact, it was kind of like the room we had just left, though the walls were painted a light blue color and the ceiling slanted above us, confirming to me that it was an attic.

Finally my mother stopped singing. As we were looking around, aghast at the power of her magick, she collapsed on the floor.

_**Magick roxxx!!! Lol. Reviews, please!!!**_

_**--MC**_


	10. Chapter 10: Return

_Let's see if things get a bit more action-ey in this chapter…Read and review, please!!_

_**--MC**_

TEN Return 

**I **dropped my jaw. Had that really happened? Scrying hadn't seemed that impossible…but now, this teleportation? A ninja could teleport himself and maybe one other person, but Mother had just zapped all of us from the Castle of the Heavens to this attic place by singing an odd song. Wow. Before, I hadn't believed that magic of any kind existed, but my mother had really proved me wrong. I knew something in me had changed after seeing the beauty of magick, and I hoped I would be the better for it.

Then I felt something in the air move, as if a wind was passing through, but that was impossible. I turned noticed my mother, who was crumpled on the ground. I knelt down by her, but Nathen was already at her side, putting two fingers to her wrist, checking for her pulse.

Mother opened her eyes, but she didn't seem to be looking at Nathen, or me, or anything in the room, as a matter of fact. It was like she was seeing something supernatural. Maybe it was a spirit; maybe she was exercising her sorceress powers.

Mother's lips moved, but no sound came out. It was like she was mouthing something. I wished I could lip-read so I could find out what she was saying. Then the wind lifted my hair and wafted away to who-knows-where, and my mother's eyes finally seemed to focus. She shook her head, as if to clear it of something, and propped herself up on her elbows. Then she told Nathen, "Magick is limited by your physical strength, so never underestimate a distance when doing a teleportation spell. And another thing to remember—you can only teleport into another circle, though it doesn't have to be a Circle of Power or even purposefully made."

"What happened?" I asked.

"It didn't seem as far as it really is when I went to the castle, but it's been a while," Mother replied. Seeing that I was still giving her a quizzical look, she went on, "In other words, I underestimated the distance and used a little too much of my energy bringing us here." She stood and smoothed out her dress.

Nathen and I rose, too. I said, "No, I mean, who were you talking to?"

"Oh, that. My hare was admonishing me for not asking for the spirits' energies to help me." She paused and then turned to Nathen. "Normally I would be asking you to translate as much of the song as you could and commit it to memory, but these aren't normal circumstances." She smiled serenely at both Nathen and me.

I gave my mother another expectant look, but she ignored it, heading for a door at the end of the room. It opened with a mighty creak, and I wondered how long it had been since it had been opened. Where were we, anyway? Mother gestured for us to follow her as she stepped through the door. When I reached the doorway, I saw a stairway. It wasn't very long, and the steps were each coated with a layer of dust. Mother descended the stairs, leaving footprints on the wooden steps, and we all followed her. When she tested the doorknob, though, it didn't turn.

"Great. What are we going to do now?" I asked.

"Watch," Nathen said from behind me. I wondered what Mother was going to do.

My mother put her index finger on the top of the doorknob and closed her eyes. There was a soft, almost inaudible click. When my mother opened her eyes and twisted the knob again, it turned. I was shocked…was this magick again? The door opened—

—into a rack of clothes…?

Mother was unfazed, though, and parted the clothes in front of her so she could step through them. All of a sudden something came to me. I had seen these clothes before…

Tenten was next to go through, and I followed her. What I saw next confirmed my thought that I had seen the clothes somewhere.

We were in my mother's closet.

Kiba, Rock Lee, and Nathen stepped into the closet, as well. Then my mother spoke. "Well, Raechylle, did you ever notice that?"

I shook my head, mute. Was that our attic we had just come down from? Wait, we had an attic?! It had been up there this entire time, and I hadn't known!

We exited the closet through the door, which wasn't locked, and went downstairs into our living room. "Sit down," my mother said, as if she had lived in this place the whole time. "Let's discuss what we're going to do next."

"Did Father know that there was an attic?" I asked after we had settled on the chairs and couches.

"Yes," Mother said, "but he's never been in it. I told him I was building a work area in the attic, but I never told him where the door was."

"So, what are we going to do?" Lee questioned.

When no one answered, Nathen cleared his throat and said, almost timidly, "Might I ask why I'm here?"

Mother looked at him like he was crazy. "What, I'm supposed to do magick in a non-magickal city without my apprentice? You're here because I brought you here! Think of it as a field trip for your training. You might want to take notes, because I'll be quizzing you later."

Nathen, still looking dubious, shook his head and fell silent.

Lee repeated himself. "So, what are we going to do?"

"Yeah," Kiba chimed in. "Are we going to just charge over to the shack you saw and demand Neji back?"

Tenten snorted. I was suddenly hit with a realization—we had completed the first part of the mission! What had seemed so impossible had happened. I had found my mother, and she could do _magick_. I didn't suppose she could magick Father back, or else she would have said so already. But I wasn't so pessimistic anymore. I had already achieved the impossible! A sense of happiness bubbled up inside me. Maybe I shouldn't always be so cynical all the time. I hoped I could become as optimistic and carefree as my mother seemed to be.

"My plan was," Mother was saying, "to find out more about the Black Dragons before we head in. Tenten, you said they're kekkei genkai collectors?"

Tenten nodded.

"And they want the Byakugan, so they took Neji?"

"We're not sure about that," Tenten said. "They gave the clan a time limit to decide what to do; they wanted a vial of blood from someone who had the Byakugan, and Neji and the other heads couldn't decide how to act. The demand was in a letter, so we've never met them, but all they said was that they were going to 'make a move' if Neji didn't have an answer."

"So we don't know if they took him to get the Byakugan out of him or for, maybe, ransom or something," Mother conceded.

"Correct."

"And your mission was to find me and then find Neji?"

"Yep." Tenten nodded.

"Okay…" Mother chewed her lip thoughtfully. Then she continued, "Let's pay a visit to the Hokage. Might I ask who it is these days?"

Kiba, Lee, and Tenten exchanged glances. "It is Naruto," Lee said.

Suddenly my mother's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. Then a wide grin found its way onto her face. "Well, I never said he couldn't," she chuckled. "I'll get changed, and we can leave."

Mother went upstairs, and when she came down, she was wearing a pair of jeans and a tank top. "Well, let's go!" she said enthusiastically. I was sure we were thinking she was getting a little ahead of herself, but none of us said anything.

We all followed her somewhat reluctantly as she headed out the front door into the Konoha sunshine. "Home, sweet home," Mother exclaimed when she was on the front step. She opened her arms and twirled around once, inhaling deeply.

It was a short walk to the Ninja Academy, but my mother, who stopped every few steps to take in some new marvel or other, elongated the trip. It seemed as if she thought everything had changed since she had left. Well, who was I to say anything, for I wasn't even a month old at the time. When she caught sight of the stone faces of the Hokages, carved into the mountainside, she started jumping up and down like a little girl, exclaiming about how Naruto Uzumaki's face was there and it looked so grown up and something or other.

Finally we made it to the Hokage's office. Tenten knocked on the door, and we heard a muffled, "Come in!"

We let ourselves in and found the Hokage sitting behind his desk with a single sheet of paper before him. "Hello!" he greeted us. "I was wondering when you guys would get back. Well, we've received word from the Black Dra—"

He cut himself short when he caught a glimpse of my mother.

"Raevynn?" he gasped, jumping up from his chair.

"Lord Hokage." Mother stepped forward, grinning and dipping her head.

"They found you!" the Hokage exclaimed, a smile spreading across is face, as well.

"Yes, they did, Lord Hokage," Mother said reverently. "I see you've fulfilled your dream, Naruto Uzumaki."

The Hokage was now smiling crazily. "Believe it!"

"For that you are a man to be respected and remembered."

Lord Hokage clapped once. "You better believe it!"

Then my mother enveloped him in a hug, even kissing him on the cheek. I hated how I suddenly found myself jealous.

When they finished their embrace, Mother smiled nostalgically, and I wondered what she was remembering.

Then the Hokage sobered, sitting down behind his desk again. "It's wonderful to have you back, Raevynn. But we haven't got much good news. Have they filled you in on the situation with the Black Dragons?"

"Yep."

"Good. Why don't you all take a look at the letter we received today…" The Hokage handed us the sheet of paper. A feeling of trepidation left a dead weight in my stomach as my mother took the letter and let us all peer over her shoulder at it.

_Lord Hokage,_

_We are sure you know of the Hyuga Clan's present predicament. We have tried to contact them, but apparently there has been no one in the house since we took Lord Hyuga. That is why we have directed this letter to you. The afternoon after today's, we plan to kill Lord Hyuga and take his Byakugan. If you ever hope to see him again, bring us $25,000 and a vial of Hyuga blood before we kill him._

_The Black Dragons_

My mouth went dry as my eyes passed over the last sentence. They were going to kill my father in two days.

When everyone finished reading it, Tenten said, "What are we going to do? Should we give them what they want?"

"Of course not!" It took me a moment to register that it was both my mother and the Hokage who said it.

"I was thinking that we should get more information on the Black Dragons," Mother began, "but it seems we don't have time."

"We should send in a few units right away!" The Hokage seemed extremely exuberant.

"Is that not a bit reckless?" Lee asked.

"I don't believe in reckless!" the Hokage exclaimed. He seemed to realize that what he had just said didn't make much sense, but he didn't care. Then, calming down a little, he went on, "We have not a moment to lose, Lee. That's why we gotta move in right now! Do we have the Black Dragons' location?"

The adults went on talking about their plans, and Nathen and I stood off to the side, trying to wait patiently. Kiba, Tenten, Lee, Mother, and the Hokage jabbered on for almost ten minutes before they came to a conclusion.

The Hokage dispatched a message to call in a few top-notch ninja to lead the mission. Two units were to accompany us, and since Mother had the approximate location of the shack in the forest, we were going to leave right away. Nathen wasn't coming, because, according to Mother, he "hadn't fought a flea in his life." This raised a protest from the apprentice because earlier, Mother had been defensive when he asked why he was here. But in the end, he agreed to go back to the house and look at my mother's Books of Shadows, from which he could, according to my mother, "learn more than he ever knew in his life." She also assigned him to try to translate the song she had used to teleport us.

Lee, Kiba, Tenten, and I got a chance to wash off the grime from our mad run across the desert to the Castle of the Heavens. That had been less than a day ago, but it seemed so much longer. I was glad, though, not to be filthy anymore.

Then we waited in the chairs in the office and had time for lunch before the eight ninja the Hokage had summoned showed up. A seventeen-year-old from the Raigeki Clan, who was a Special Anbu, led them. He seemed to be highly revered, and I had to hand it to him for being a Special Anbu at age seventeen. After introducing himself as Ryo, he fell into silence.

The others were all jonin or Anbu, and I briefly wondered why the Hokage was sending such esteemed ninja after a little organization situated in a shack in the woods. But I didn't think too much of it, because within the next ten minutes, we were at the western gate of the village and heading out.

_**Don't worry, it gets better!!! These author's notes are getting shorter and shorter…I'm running out of things to say. Wow that's a first!! Lol**_

_**--MC**_


	11. Chapter 11: A Mother's Words

_**Maybe it's due to lack of sleep from New Year's Eve, but I have once again forgotten whether or not I posted a chapter today. Or yesterday. Whatever…enjoy Chapter 11!!**_

_**--MC**_

**ELEVEN**

**A Mother's Words**

**T**he thirteen of us leapt into the trees and used them as a highway, heading west. We covered plenty of ground by mid-afternoon; we had returned to the Leaf Village from the Castle of the Heavens around noon.

There had been no sign of the shack though, so we continued until sunset. In the darkness, the trees shrouded everything, and Ryo sent his men out to scan the whole area. Just as the sun sank below the horizon, we came upon a large dirt clearing with a shack in the center. There was a trapdoor in the ground a few meters from the door of the shack that I supposed led to the dungeon my father was being held in.

We halted at the edge of the clearing, Ryo called his men back through their walkie-talkies, and we all watched through the bushes. The single guard was leaning against the shack, making it seem like the shack would topple over at any second. It couldn't be more than two by two meters in dimensions and seemed to be made of sticks. The guard was smoking a cigarette and holding a halberd-type axe, rubbing a rag over the surface. He didn't look as if he were paying much attention to his surroundings.

"What are we going to do?" Kiba whispered.

"I don't know," Mother responded. She turned to Ryo. "Maybe he has a plan." The only words he had spoken since we left were the ones to order the jonin and Anbu.

Ryo glanced in our direction, but didn't break his silence, only held up a hand as if silencing Mother and Kiba.

Just then, the guard glanced up, exactly at the cluster of bushes behind which we were concealed. We all ducked, and I wondered how Ryo had known that was going to happen.

When the guard turned back to his axe cleaning, Ryo spoke. "Here's the plan." He paused, glanced at the guard, and then turned back to us. "Lord Hyuga's execution is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon." Pause, glance at the guard. "I propose that we hide it out until then and launch a surprise attack." Pause, glance. "We need to find out more about the organization…" Another glance. "…because we know almost nothing right now. And anyways, at the execution, they'll all be focused on the lord and hopefully off their guard, and more vulnerable to our attack."

Each of the seven other men nodded, and I supposed that even if we objected, we were outnumbered. Ryo's plan seemed plausible, and even though I had only know him for half a day, his charisma and good judgment were more than apparent.

"So what are we going to do all night?" Lee questioned.

"We're going to get some food and rest, of course," Ryo replied nonchalantly.

We backtracked a little so that we were out of view and earshot of the field, and Ryo sent some of his men to collect food. They came back with their arms full, and we had a medium-sized meal with some left over. When Kiba asked why we didn't eat the rest of the food, Ryo explained, still in a soft voice though we were far from the clearing, "Sleeping on a full meal makes a shinobi stodgy."

So we settled down on beds of leaves for the night, taking turns on guard.

The next morning I woke with a sore back from sleeping on the hard ground. The sunlight was streaming through the canopy, so bright it was almost tangible. I squinted and rose.

Ryo was already up, squatted before a fire with some of his men. I didn't know if I should go join them, but the ninja closest to me scooted over to make a space. I was between him and Ryo, and Ryo silently handed me a kebab with little chunks of raw meat on it.

I roasted my meat and ate it slowly, and by the time I was finished, everyone else had risen. When everyone had eaten, Ryo announced, "Since we can't all go over there at once, we'll send people in shifts through the morning and find out all we can. Things to find out: patterns in guard-shift changes, who their leader is, and where the execution is going to take place. Got it?"

We all nodded.

"Good. Tsushori, Masatoki, you two take first shift. The rest of you can do a little training or something until it's your turn."

The two men left, and the rest of us were left at camp to kill time. Tenten and I did some target practice, but my mother seemed to have retreated into a solemn pensiveness. She was sitting on a fallen log, watching us.

"What is it?" I asked her after I got tired with target practice.

Mother didn't say anything.

I sat down on the log next to her. "We'll get Father back," I said, trying to reassure her. In truth, I was kind of puzzled by her behavior. During the short time I had known my mother, she had seemed exuberant and always optimistic.

"It's not that," Mother said. After a pause, she continued. "What I'm afraid of is who Neji will be when we get him back."

"How do you mean?"

"You said he wasn't raising you the way I might have hoped." A hint of desperateness crept into her voice. "Neji was always kind of aloof, but I thought Naruto—excuse me, Lord Hokage—and I solved that problem. And all this with you not having the Byakugan…" Her shoulders heaved in a massive sigh. "I'm starting to think your father abhors you for making me go away."

I dropped my jaw.

"I don't mean to say that you caused me to leave," Mother said hurriedly.

I closed my mouth and frowned. Then I had the impulse to ask, "How are you always happy?"

My mother looked at me and then laughed a little. "Always happy? I don't think so." She paused and sighed before going on, "I could never have become a kunoichi if I tried. I've always been sentimental and sensitive—I couldn't hurt a fly—and my grandmother raised me to always want to help people. And then there was Wicca: 'Ever mind the rule of three, what you give out comes back to thee.' Basically, I believed strongly in karma, and tried never to do wrong. My grandmother once told me, 'It's not possible for human beings to not be selfish. It's the level of selfishness that counts.' It may sound corny, but giving really is better than getting. I became a healer to try to help others."

I nodded slowly, not really understanding but vowing to remember her words.

"But," Mother said, "I haven't really answered your question. I'm happy because I try to be. It's kind of a matter of making your own decisions. Are you going to hand yourself over to the mercy of fate or are you going to fight and find your own dreams? But sometimes I take it a little too far. I have a tendency to float on a cloud, if you will, running away from reality."

She paused again and turned her hazel eyes on me. "This is probably boring you. But…I guess my point is—this is my life's lesson: learn to balance."

I let the meaning of her words inundate me before resurfacing back to reality. Then I said, not catching her eyes, "If that's how you think, you'd hate me."

"How so?"

"I'm selfish. I'm too pragmatic. I let my fate get decided for me." It seemed something of a relief to finally confess to someone what I had been holding inside for so long, even though I hadn't known that I had been incarcerating these things. I went on. "I'm a perfectionist. And once a teacher told me that I can't think out of the box."

"Perfectionism," my mother muttered. She seemed to think to herself for moment. Then she said, "Don't worry, Raechylle. No matter how others may treat you, know that this is the truth. You belong. You belong…in the Hyuga Clan, in Konohagakure, in this world."

My mother's words echoed in my ears like a long-lost lullaby. A gash that had been scarred into my heart when I was three, inflicted by my father's disappointment in my not having the Byakugan, reopened. Memories I didn't know I had flowed free and flashed through my mind. There had been a test. Father had made it seem like my life was on the line. The murals of the Jungle's walls blurred into a green-and-brown mess at the speed Father and I were moving at. Blades flashed. I tried to move faster, to put into use all that my daddy had taught me in my three short years.

But somehow Father's kunai snuck under my chin. A drop of blood coagulated on the cold silver surface. I knew I had failed the test. I wanted to cry, but I wasn't going to break down in front of the father who had always taught me to be strong.

I looked up at my father. His eyes were cold and hard now, not expectant and hopeful, as they had been when we started the test. His face seemed crestfallen, and his disappointment was obvious. I didn't understand it, yet I fully comprehended the fact that I had let my father down.

He had explained before the test. He was going to try to awaken my Byakugan, the bloodline trait of the clan. He had said that nothing would make him happier than me showing him I had the Byakugan.

But I had failed him

Father took the kunai away from my neck. He wiped away the blood on its blade and the drops from the small cut under my chin. Then he turned away from me and told me I could go.

But he would never treat me the same way, with the same love and fatherly affection.

From then on, my father was stern and aloof.

Because I didn't have the Byakugan, I didn't belong in the clan.

The wound in my heart had never fully healed. I had just grafted imaginary scar tissue over it. And now that travesty was being pushed away, and the blood was flowing, unrestrained.

I didn't cry. There were no tears to shed, for self-pity is futile. I just let my mother's words gather up the blood and pour it back into my heart. She expertly sewed together the wound with loving hands, whispering the words over and over.

They were the words I had wanted to hear all my life. _You belong._ I wasn't sure if I believed them, but I knew they were true. Somehow, after being rejected by my clan, I had felt that I didn't belong in the village or in this world.

I made a vow to myself to try to be a better person.

"Yes, mother," I said devotedly.

"One day, you'll have to ask the Hokage to tell you the story of how he fought your father in the chunin exams before Orochimaru's Invasion."

Now I was puzzled. Hokage fighting my father in the chunin exams…?

Mother chuckled at my expression. "Don't worry, you're still young. You have a lot of time to learn to understand."

Just then, Ryo called my name. He beckoned for Tenten and me to take second shift.

"Go on," my mother prodded me. "You have a duty to fulfill."

I nodded and went with Tenten to the edge of the clearing.

_**Two chapters and an epilogue to go!! Don't worry, the story will get better…!! )**_

_**--MC**_


	12. Chapter 12: Sneak Attack

_**Chapter Twelve up!! It's going to get a little more action-ey now, so enjoy!!**_

_**--MC**_

**TWELVE**

**Sneak Attack**

**W**hen Tenten and I returned from our shift watching the clearing, all we had found out was that the guards that had switched—hourly—were neither alert nor diligent. In my opinion, we should storm the guards, break my father out from the dungeon, set fire to the shack, and run away before anyone found us. But Tenten said that now I was being the reckless one and we had to follow Ryo's plan.

Whatever.

We relayed everything we learned to Ryo, who sent out two more people. It wasn't long until noon, and we had a light lunch. I was starting to anticipate the fight that was sure to come, and I could tell everyone else felt the same.

Then two of Ryo's men came running back to camp, announcing, "They're bringing him out! They've got a guillotine!"

Guillotine! I leapt to my feet, awaiting Ryo's command.

"Alright, everyone," Ryo said, seeming completely relaxed. "This is the plan: we're going to wait at the edge of the clearing until the moment the leader—whom we have fortunately found out is a man in a black suit—gives the command to release the guillotine. I'll give a signal, and Tenten will take out whoever is going to operate the guillotine with a shuriken. Then, just as they see their comrade fall, we take them full storm. We don't know how powerful they are, so be on guard, but don't exhaust yourselves right away. Raevynn, you'll be in charge of freeing Lord Hyuga, and once the last enemy is out, we'll torch the shack. Got it, everyone?"

"Wait." It was my mother. "I don't think Neji should see me right away."

I didn't understand, but apparently Ryo did. He nodded. "Cover your face with a cloth or something."

My mother looked around. Fortunately, one of Ryo's men happened to have a large black cloth and he gave it to her. She wound it neatly around her head to conceal most of her face and all of her lustrous hair.

"Ready now?" Ryo said.

We all nodded with resolve in our eyes.

"Then, let's go."

Ryo led us in a quiet dash to the edge of the clearing. We made sure we were concealed by the bushes and trees and watched the happenings in the clearing.

There was a guillotine, all right, with a sharp and shiny blade suspended in the air. My father was just being led out from the dungeon by two guards. These guards, unlike the slackers we had seen previously, were garbed in black uniforms with a small "Black Dragons" insignia on the breast pocket. The small crowd of twenty or so Black Dragons that had been drawn out was similarly dressed.

I heard Mother, who was crouching next to me, gasp at the sight of her husband, whom she hadn't seen for thirteen years. But we all stayed still, frozen with trepidation.

My father was led to the guillotine and two more uniformed men strapped him in. I could only guess at what was going on in his head.

A bead of sweat formed on my forehead. The sweltering sun was shining brightly above us, and it seemed as if it were testing us with the heat.

There was a man dressed in an expensive-looking black suit standing next to the guillotine. I wondered how he wasn't perspiring with this temperature and his ridiculous attire. The man began to speak.

"Lord Hyuga, it seems your village has abandoned you." His voice was mocking and condescending. "What do you have to say to that?"

I couldn't see Father's face; he didn't say anything in response.

"Well, we're going to get out the Byakugan either way." The man paused to snicker a little. "Got any last words, Lord Hyuga Neji?"

"Yes." My father's voice was soft, but filled with hatred.

There was a pause. A breeze alleviated the heat, and it blew past without anyone in the clearing saying anything.

"Well, what are they?!" the black-suited man exclaimed.

"Go to hell."

The Black Dragons leader dropped his jaw for a millisecond; then seemed to regain his composure. He didn't say anything for a while, and I could see his men tense up with anticipation.

"Well, let's not delay this any longer. Cutter?"

A thin man with a knife in his hand stepped forward.

Ryo held his hand up, palm forward, as if signaling "pause."

My heart beat with nervousness and my eyes were trained on Ryo's hand.

From the clearing, I could hear, "Why don't you cut the string."

Ryo's hand twisted so that the side was pointing at the clearing, and Tenten unleashed two shuriken that buried themselves in the thin man's neck. The man fell to his knees before slumping on the ground, his blood pooling in the dirt.

My mother flinched at the sight of murder.

We burst out of the bushes, taking the men by surprise. Ryo immediately went to the man in the suit and killed him before he could respond.

There were thirteen of us and over twenty of them, and it seemed that we were a bit outmatched. The Black Dragons were experts with taijutsu, and soon were overpowering all of us except Lee. But soon it would be time to test their gen- and ninjutsu skills.

Meanwhile, my mother had freed my father, but Father didn't know who his masked savior was, only that she was with us. The moment he got off the guillotine, he activated his Byakugan, and joined the battle.

Presently, I was exchanging blows with a short, stocky man that made up for his size with speed and energy. He was undoubtedly my superior in taijutsu, but once I tired of martial arts, I tried out a few illusions on him.

Generally, kunoichi are good at genjutsu, and I was no exception. I decided to use the most irrelevant-to-the-battle genjutsu in my repertoire to confuse my enemy. Putting together a few hand signs, I said, "Dancing Flowers Illusion!"

Immediately, twirling pink, white, and yellow flowers started falling out of the sky, dancing and swaying as they drifted downward.

The effect was just as I had predicted. The Black Dragon looked up, wondering at where the flowers had come from. This opened up his neck, and I immediately gave him a roundhouse under the chin. He was sent backwards; stunned for a second, but once he regained his balance his eyes were dancing with anger.

I called off my genjutsu and faced the Black Dragon.

I was surprised to see my opponent start doing hand signs, and rolled on the balls of my feet, ready to leap off the ground, duck, or jump to either side. The jutsu he chose was an Earth Style one that churned the ground underneath me into quicksand.

Being unable to leap into the air off of quicksand, I opted for a cartwheel to the side, efficiently knocking another Black Dragon in the head with my heels. Once I was on safe ground, I did a few of my own hand signs, commanding a gust of wind at my opponent with my Sword of the Zephyrs technique. I could mold the winds into a sharp arrow of wind, and aimed them right at the Black Dragon's solar plexus.

Though I didn't have the Byakugan and couldn't see the tenketsu (chakra node points), I had been taught enough about them to know that the solar plexus was where many keirakurei (chakra veins) crossed each other, and though it wasn't a fatal spot to hit, it would cause a lot of pain.

My opponent had the wind knocked out of him and was sent flying, to land on his rear end and slide along in the dirt a ways. There was a grotesque, bloody wound in the center of his stomach. He was paralyzed for longer this time, and I was bracing myself to deal the final blow when Ryo came hurtling out of nowhere, exchanging taijutsu blows at the speed of light with a Black Dragon. He happened to see the man I had knocked down, and threw a kunai into his head without breaking from his fight with the other Black Dragon.

I dropped my jaw, and Ryo gave me a sly smile. That was when I was taken by surprise by another Black Dragon. In a classic move, he whacked the back of my head with a branch. A few strands of my hair, which I was wearing loose, got caught in the branch and were plucked right out of my head.

Infuriated, I whirled around, ready with a barrage of punches. As he wheeled from my blows, I brought out my fighting kunai. Knife against branch—I was about to laugh, but the man apparently didn't think it was funny because he continued to try to fight with the stick. I chopped his branch to bits within moments, and was about to go for him when another Black Dragon kicked me in the back of the knees.

God, why hadn't I been watching my back? I dropped to the ground for a minute, but somersaulted between the second man's legs, my hair flying behind me. When I got up, I turned so that I wouldn't lose sight of them and did a few back-handsprings to put some distance between my opponent and myself.

The first Black Dragon, who had whacked me with the stick, was now engaged in combat with Kiba and Akamaru, and I was left with the guy who had kicked me.

In the next few seconds, I planned a few moves ahead and went to work. I leapt into the air, grabbed a few shuriken, and started to whirl in midair until I was a blur. This was a move Tenten had taught me. It would have been easy, had I had the Byakugan, to aim while spinning, but since that was unavailable to me, I had to take a random guess; I hadn't mastered aiming while rotating just yet.

But I didn't need to see my target. The shuriken was meant as a distraction, and, predictably, the man was distracted. He watched the shuriken embed themselves in nearby trees and some other Black Dragons in the clearing, but when he turned back to the spot in the air where I had been whirling, all he saw was a patch of sky.

Then I was coming at him from behind, and everything went just as I planned. He turned around when he heard me, but wasn't fast enough to react when I crouched at kicked him in the face, sending him off balance and leaning backwards.

The man yowled and whacked at me blindly, but I was already gone. Thank god for the speed workouts Anora's father had put us through recently, and for the running I had done searching for my mother. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this.

_Thank you, Sasuke,_ I thought to myself as I kicked the man on the back from behind, sending him into the air a little. That was all I needed for my improvised version of Sasuke's Lion's Barrage.

It was difficult to move fast enough to get in front of the man to force him higher into the sky. I moved as quickly as I could and gave him a humongous thrust with my foot, sending him upwards off the ground. But once the man was in the air, all I had to do was leap up and get on top of him. Three meters above the earth's surface, I aimed a barrage of kicks and punches at various spots on his body, and just before he came back down to the ground, I used ninjustsu to command a gust of wind to slam him into a tree, knocking him out.

I knelt on the ground to catch my breath. I had never been one with particularly excellent stamina, and hoped no one would attack me before I had the chance to make sure my opponent was dead. He had blood tricking out of his head, and when I checked his wrist, there was no pulse. Tenten had been the one who taught me about "subtle killing." It wasn't out of a shinobi's code of conduct to kill, but in my whole career as a kunoichi, I had never killed anyone in cold blood (only indirectly pushed them off cliffs, used ninjutsu, drowned them, etc.).

The battle was gradually turning in our favor, and I teamed up with Tenten to take down another Black Dragon. By that time, all the Black Dragons had been killed and their carcasses littered the ground.

We all turned around to look at each other, catching our breaths, and suddenly the door to the shack burst open and four ninja dressed entirely in black—facemasks and hoods included—appeared in the doorway. They immediately jumped in different directions and ran at top speeds in a circle around us.

I was getting ready for a ninjustu, but all the black-wearing ninja did was keep running.

All of a sudden I got the gut feeling that this was a trick. Around me, others were getting the same idea. We leapt out of the circle that our enemies were making around us as soon as possible.

But that was exactly what they had been expecting.

Suddenly a black-clad ninja was upon me, and I could feel his kunai's cold blade against my throat. Before he could move, though, I gave him a good kick between the legs. Immediately, the ninja doubled over, giving me time to regroup with my comrades.

When the ninja came at us again, we were ready with ninjutsu galore. Ryo used a Shadow Doppelganger jutsu, and his clones teamed up against one of the ninja. After beating him up a little, the clones kicked him into the air. I summoned a Sword of the Zephyrs and drove it straight down into him, cringing at the result. Ryo nodded his head at me in acknowledgment of my assistance.

Meanwhile, everyone else had taken care of the other black-clad ninja and soon their three bodies were mixed in with the carnage of the rest of the Black Dragons' men.

The afternoon was turning to evening, and the air was finally cooling down with the sunset. Kiba and Lee went into the shack to check if there was anyone left. There wasn't

The battle was over. I had to admit that I was disappointed. I had been expecting more from the Black Dragons.

All of us except for Mother, who was still wearing the facemask, heaped the cadavers of the men around the shack. We shoved the guillotine over to be burned, as well. Then Ryo stood facing the vulgar pile of death and did a few hand signs. He used a Fire Style jutsu to set fire to what had once been the Black Dragons.

The fire didn't catch right away, but in a few minutes it was burning bright and strong, the same color as the setting sun. We all stood around, watching the flames dance and lick at the sky. The stench of burning flesh filled the air, and soon nothing was left of the shack and the Black Dragons' corpses but a pile of smoldering ash.

When Ryo was pleased with the effects, he did a Water Style jutsu and doused the whole thing with water.

I sighed. It seemed like everything that had started with my father getting abducted had come to an end.

**_No, the story's NOT over, if it were that would be totally boring and anticlimactic!!!! So don't even think it's over!!! Lol. Chapter 13 will be up soon!_**

_**--MC**_


	13. Chapter 13: In the Sunset and Epilogue

_**Sorry I didn't update for a while; I just thought it would be fitting to post the last chapter of my story on the same day as my last day of winter break, which would be TODAY!!! But considering your lack of enthusiasm (namely, NO REVIEWS) I don't think you care much. Anyways, enjoy chapter 13 and the epilogue. **_

_**--MC**_

**THIRTEEN**

**In the Sunset**

**W**e all turned around, and suddenly we were facing my mother, who had been standing a little behind the rest of us. Her facemask had disappeared, and her long black hair was lifted in the breeze.

My father gasped. The moment was suspended in silence until Mother finally said, "Neji."

And then Father was holding her, burying his face in her hair. She looked up and kissed him deeply.

I smiled to myself. I guess this was mission accomplished.

And I finally had my family back.

Without another word, we all started walking away from the ruins of the Black Dragon headquarters, back towards the village. The sunset filtered through between the tree trunks, creating an ambience of finality, yet great peace.

My mother and father were a few steps in front of me, and everyone else was behind me. I couldn't help but smile as I watched the backs of my parents. Father's left hand clutched my mother's right as if he never wanted to let her go again. They were walking side by side, their shoulders almost touching.

Father turned his head to face my mother, his gray eyes sparkling. Something in those eyes had changed. It was as if he couldn't see anything other than the woman next to him. He looked at her in a way he had never looked at me, or anyone else.

As he took in her face, his eyes reflected nothing but pure love.

My smile turned into a huge grin as my father leaned over and kissed my mother on her forehead. I didn't know if everyone's parents acted like this all the time, but I didn't really care because I was just so happy, my mind filled with the fact that I finally had a family where I _belonged._

Mother slowed to a stop and turned to face her husband. Then she put her arms around him and passionately put her lips to his. Against the sunset in the background, she and Father made quite a scene.

I heard some whispering behind me—Kiba and Rock Lee were both snickering and Akamaru was barking, and though it was good-natured, I was sure all of us could hear it. Father glanced in their direction but didn't break the kiss. I marveled at my mother, who ignored Lee and Kiba entirely, unafraid to publicly express her beliefs. That was something I could never do; apparently Mother didn't care whether or not the whole world was watching. Which it might as well have been; we all stopped walking when we reached them and she made no move that showed neither embarrassment nor modesty.

Finally Father broke from my mother's embrace and breathed, "We'd better get moving."

Then it happened. Our only warning was an interrupted whine from Akamaru.

A silvery-black blade appeared out of thin air at my father's throat. He saw it the same moment that I did, and I knew it was a jutsu of some sort.

The blade moved at lightning speed, but I saw it all happening in slow motion. It drew itself back, and then slashed forward at Father's neck—

—A flash of raven-colored hair—drops of blood suspended in midair—

—My mother fell to her knees, the ground before her suddenly splattered with crimson, made darker by the sun's dying rays. I looked around wildly, trepidation and fear welling up inside me. Father bent down at Mother's side—a look of pure shock on his face—as something darted across the path, obscured by the trees' shadows, which were elongated by the sunset. Shuriken whistled past my ear; Tenten had launched two in the furtive creature's direction.

Rock Lee and Ryo leapt into action, as well. Lee dashed towards the marauder, who was about ten meters away, while Ryo let loose a barrage of shuriken and kunai.

But the figure in the shadows had already fallen before Lee reached it, before any of Ryo's weapons made contact. A kunai handle protruded from the stomach of a man dressed entirely in black, just like the three ninja we had killed.

Three? There had been four that burst through the door! How stupid had we been?!

My father strode towards the man with a vindictive light in his presently Byakugan-enhanced eyes. It was his kunai that had struck the man in the stomach. Now, Father raised his left hand and jabbed the man seven times, each time eliciting a scream and convulsion from the Black Dragon. Then he bent down and pulled the man up to his feet by his collar. The man cowered, trying to avoid looking my father's gaze.

"Do you know where you're going?!" Father demanded, his face contorted in rage, but his eyes reflecting nothing but pain.

The man shook his black-masked head in terror.

"Well, they're waiting for you," my father said sibilantly—but I could hear his voice cracking— "in hell."

He vehemently tossed the man back onto the ground and stepped on his face, grinding it into the ground with his foot and making the man cry out. Fury and despair radiated from my father as he stepped back and took a silver feather-shaped kunai from his holder. The world seemed to move in slow motion, my eyes were locked on the kunai. A glint of dying sunlight flashed on the weapon's scintillating surface.

Father drew back his hand and deftly released the kunai into the air.

The silver knife had hardly any distance to travel before it met its mark point-blank, burying itself deep in the man's heart.

Somehow I had come to be kneeling next to my mother, who was laid out on the ground, each of her breaths shallow and strained. Her neck bore a wound that gushed blood, but her hazel eyes showed no fear.

Mother's lips moved weakly, and I heard, "Raechylle, my daughter…"

"Yes, mother," I choked out. My face was soaked with tears that I didn't know I had been crying.

"Look into my eyes."

I did—and suddenly her hazel gaze seemed to look deep into me, groping so far down, straight to my heart and extending embracing fingers into places I had never explored myself, opening them up and letting her love fill them to the brim. I did my best to hold her eyes with mine, vaguely fearing the magick that was being poured into me.

The moment seemed to freeze. I was looking at a mirror image of myself, save for the eyes. _You have your father's eyes…_

Something evanesced out of her and entered into me. Something changed within me. A whisper echoed through my mind.

_Sorceress._

Was that what it was? Was that what I was now? For I knew something inside me had shifted.

Then Father was kneeling beside me, pulling my mother's head into his lap, his despondent voice filling the silence of the transferal, "Raevynn, no, why did you do it—no…!"

The sun was sinking slowly behind the horizon, disappearing, just like my mother's life force was disappearing. The sky looked like it was bleeding and crying all at once.

My tears were falling, dropping heavily to the ground. For once, my father had let down his cold shield and I could see the tears glistening on his face, as well.

Somehow, though she had told me she couldn't do so with living beings, she touched our minds, for she couldn't speak anymore.

_Raechylle…Neji…my body's life is over, but my soul will live on…I have been ready for this moment since I left you thirteen years ago, and I feel blessed to have had so long before it came…know that I love you and that I am sorry for all the years spent in futility. _

_Neji, please don't feel guilty. I know the blade was aimed for you, but there is no better way for a lover to die than to die protecting the one she loves. Raise our children well. _

_Raechylle, I know you shan't misuse your inheritance. Now I must go…look for me where the fish swim under sunlight…_

…_and know that I will always be with you._

The sun sunk below the horizon and a starry, deep blue sky blanketed us in darkness.

My mother smiled up at me, and closed her eyes.

**EPILOGUE**

**T**hings have changed around here.

I've changed.

I'm a sorceress now. My guardian-angel spirits are a dormouse, a graceful-legged doe, and, just like my mother's name, a raven. They've been teaching me all that they can about my powers, and my eyes have opened up to a whole new world—the world of the supernatural.

I've learned to use the spirits I can communicate with for good. They remind me of things I forget to do and advise me when I face a tough decision. They predict accidents so I can prevent them as best I can and they've become my conscience, part of my very being.

When we got back to Konohagakure bearing Raevynn Martin Hyuga's corpse, the Hokage broke down in tears. Then he demanded a magnificent funeral for her. She was buried two days after we came back.

Nathen was devastated to find that his mistress had died, and he stayed with us a little longer before going back to the Castle of the Heavens. Before he left, he told me this:

"Raven once told me that she had a theory that being a sorceress was passed down from mother to daughter by the mother's will. That was why her grandmother was so wise—she had once been a sorceress. Raven's mother died when she was young, and she thought that her mother hadn't gotten a chance to pass down her powers. When Raven was on the brink of death after she gave birth to you, her mother's spirit contacted her reaching over the narrow border where she teetered. Though she wasn't sure, Raven thought that that was the first spirit she saw. When she was between life and death, her mother reached out from the other side and gave her the powers. And now she has passed them down to you."

Nathen promised to use what Mother taught him to help the people of the Castle of Heavens, and hoped to stay in contact with Konoha.

My father, for the most part, accepts me now. I can feel the difference when he talks to me—which is a lot more now, mostly to tell me about my mother. He has tried not to feel guilty, but every now and then, he declares that it should have been him that the black knife killed and not my mother.

We had to tell Hatori about it. It wasn't easy—you try telling your brother that _your mother is dead._ But I don't think it's completely true. We grieve for her, my father and my brother and I, but somehow I know that we will be all right. I think Father and Hatori know that too, as much as it hurts.

And I can still feel her sometimes. I can't communicate with human spirits like I can with animals (according to my dormouse, I can only communicate with spirits of my own species by their will, not by mine), but the feeling of my mother being there isn't even that subtle. It's indescribable—sometimes I'll be just going along with my day and there's a faint feeling of her.

A faint feeling of _sky_. Just like it had been when I first opened her closet. How long ago that seems now! But I'm glad of how far I've come. I know I'm going to be a better person for all of this. There will be no more perfectionism, pragmatism, or aloofness…there's hope for the future.

The feeling of her is always brief. If I try to look, she won't be there. But I know she's there.

I had had such high hopes for us all to be a family again—I guess it never was going to happen. But somehow, instead of my spirits crashing, I feel like I'm more complete; in my short time with my mother, I learned a lot. I've become more carefree, and I'll always try to live by what she told me before the battle, while we were sitting on the log. She helped me come to realize—there are things in life you can change, and there are things that just have to be left alone. Everything's a balance.

It feels like I finally found a part of me that was missing my entire life. I think it's because _I _used _my own will_ to find my mother. It was the first time that I really followed my desires. And I know there will be countless more times in the future.

_It isn't easy to grow up without a mother. But people have done it. Some of the greatest people you know have done it… and look at all they've accomplished._

I feel like I can see everything that I will accomplish.

The other day I was walking along the river. I followed it through the forest to a meadow where no one really goes. There's a huge dead tree in the middle of it, with an extremely large bird nest at the top.

The sun shone on my back as I watched the fish darting around in the river's clear water. Then I remembered what Mother had said before she died—_look for me where the fish swim under sunlight._

I glanced up, and that was when I saw it.

She was a beautiful eagle-like bird, but she wasn't an eagle; she was far too small. Soaring in the sky above me, she was white underneath with a few specks of brown around the neck. The tops of her wings and her back were dark brown, as was her eye stripe.

She was magnificent, and I stared in rapture. Gliding down close to the river's surface, she extended powerful claws and snatched up a fish right out of the water.

She was the same bird from Mother's charm bracelet…

With the fish still clasped in its talons, she flew right by me and looked at me with a hazel eye.

Mother's eye.

She was an osprey. My mother's guardian-angel.

I smiled at the bird before she coasted up to her nest to feast on her catch. She looked so natural there, still watching me with a wise hazel eye. She looked like she was perfectly happy. She looked like she knew what she was doing in the world. She looked like—no, she knew she belonged.

That wound that my mother had reopened and stitched back together healed itself completely. It was as if it had never been there.

And I knew that I truly belonged.

_**THE STORY IS OVER!!!!!!!!!! NOW WOULD BE AN AHMAZING TIME TO SEND IN SOME REVIEWS!!!!!!!! Hopefully you liked the story; whether you did or not, take some time out of your day to make mine brighter—tell me what you thought by sending me a review!! But NO, there is no sequel, and there will not be, simply because I don't **_**do**_** sequels. Sorry. Other than that, THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING!!!! Lol. **_

_**--MC**_


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